The Million Dollar Nightmare
by Scoobyfan1
Summary: When Daphne recieves an e-mail from a friend of her father's, Mystery Inc. is thrust into yet another adventure. But this time the mystery has a major payoff, that is if Scooby and company can survive a night in a haunted mansion. Pairings: Fred/Daphne & Shaggy/Velma.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Notes: Scooby Doo and all characters and trademarks are copyright 2010 Hanna-Barbera Productions/Warner Brothers/Cartoon Network. This story is also partly based on the 1964 and 1999 horror movie House on Haunted Hill; coincidentally enough one of the actors in the original version of the movie was Vincent Price, who was also a voice in the 13 Ghosts of Scooby Doo where he provided the voice of Vincent Van Ghoul, basically this is sort of an homage to him and partly to his character in that show and movie. Also to any Scrappy haters, he is in this story but will be more like he was in the 1982-1988 Scooby Doo series and movies than he was in the early Scooby and Scrappy shows. Thank You to LoveofVelma for providing me with title ideas for this story as well.

Chapter 1

During their long and illustrious careers, the five (or six if you include Scrappy Doo) members of the famous private detective agency known unofficially as Mystery Incorporated, or Mystery Inc. for short have always known and have never been known to back down from a challenge, in most cases the challenge being a mystery usually involve any sort of ghost, ghoul, phantom, apparition, monster or creature; most of the time the agency's mysteries ended up with the so called supernatural villain being a man or woman in a mask or costume trying to cover up some kind of crime or criminal activity such as counterfeiting, embezzlement or other miscellaneous other illegal offenses.

However the gang's latest case is one that in retrospect maybe they shouldn't have taken because at the end of it all, the four teenage sleuths and their pair of Great Danes may not make it out of their current adventure alive and if they did make it out alive, they might not want to solve another mystery or want to see another ghost for quite a long time; but I'm getting way ahead of myself, Mystery Inc.'s latest adventure actually begins at Blake Mansion, which is the residence of Daphne Blake's parents; for many years Daphne's parents have funded the group's adventures as private detectives, which at first were merely something that the gang had done on their vacations and on weekends when they were in school.

Eventually the gang's hobby turned into a major business and some years back Mystery Inc. became an official private detective agency, naturally being private detectives didn't or don't pay that well, so each member of the gang took side jobs to pay the bills; presently Fred Jones, who is the unofficial leader of Mystery Inc. works as a free lance writer, specializing in sports and writing mysteries; Daphne Blake, the richest and most fashionable member of the group currently works as a free lance writer as well, she however specializes in writing about fashion, pop culture, current events and on occasion mysteries, like her boyfriend of several years, the aforementioned Fred Jones.

Velma Dinkley, the most intelligent member of the group, and Norville "Shaggy" Rogers, one of the two most cowardly and hungry members of the group both co-own a combination restaurant and bookstore in downtown Coolsville, well sort of; actually Velma's bookstore called the Mystery Inc. Bookstore and Shaggy's restaurant called coincidentally enough The Mystery Inc. Grill, are located in separate buildings on Main Street in the downtown area of the small town but are connected to one another by a special passage/doorway inside both establishments which was constructed by the green shirted teenager, much to the surprise and amazement of his girlfriend of several years, the aforementioned Velma Dinkley who was quite shocked that Shaggy had become quite proficient at carpentry, although one of his uncles was quite skilled at it as well, and he was more than happy to receive lessons in the craft from said uncle.

Meanwhile the two canines of the group, Scooby Doo and his brave but diminutive nephew Scrappy Doo stayed at Blake Mansion during the day and kept Daphne's parents company as they worked on their various business deals, which numbered many considering George and Elizabeth Blake were two of the richest people in the state of Ohio and the entire Midwestern United States; not only did the Blakes' work on their finances and their business finances, but they also worked on the finances of Shaggy and Velma's businesses much to the surprise of the pair of sleuths.

Technically Mystery Inc. was still in business, although the gang hadn't solved that many mysteries or undertaken any cases in a few months, which made sense considering it was now October and for the past few months the gang had taken time off from mystery solving to go on a summer vacation across the country where they were joined by Daphne's parents who tagged along in one of their many vehicles; although Mystery Inc. had taken time off from detective work, they were always happy to take a case, which usually now involved working for insurance companies, or being hired to investigate missing gold, jewels, paintings or other valuable items; Scooby and his friends however had always wanted to get back to the good old days of chasing ghosts and monsters which would always turn out to be people in costumes.

However, fate as a strange way of working in people's lives, and for Scooby Doo, Shaggy, Fred, Daphne, Velma and Scrappy Doo it was about to play its hand in their lives once again; the late afternoon sunlight shined brilliantly this Autumn day through the front windows of the Blake Mansion as the various members of the Mystery Inc. detective agency were taking some time off from their various careers; inside the front room of the estate, Shaggy, Velma, Scooby, Scrappy and Fred sit on a sofa while the wealthy red haired member of the group's parents sit in a couple of chairs opposite the sofa, at the moment the five sleuths are discussing various topics with the red head's parents including the gang's old mysteries, the group's careers and other miscellaneous items of interest.

While Daphne's mother sips an Iced Tea, the red head's father takes a few minutes to discuss some of the finer points of the blond teen and the red haired young woman's various articles, specifically some of the ones that George Blake enjoyed, even though he wasn't much of a sports fan; however, while five members of the group are currently in the living room and chatting with the red head's parents, George and Elizabeth Blake's daughter Daphne is currently sitting inside the first floor room of the mansion that she usually uses as an office whenever she does her writing.

At the moment the red head sits in front of a computer screen and is typing away on her keyboard, trying to finish a couple of articles that she has been working on; the young red haired writer then saves each of the articles to a flash drive and exits out of her Word Processor program, next she logs onto the internet on her desktop computer and checks her e-mail, which she usually did at this time of the day.

Daphne looks through the various messages on her e-mail account, noticing that most of them are either Spam, advertisements for things that she didn't want or didn't need, or other messages that she didn't have any desire in opening; however there were a few of them that she saved, considering they were from the various publishers and publications that accepted her work, for the most part those messages said things like "Good Job Daphne" or "Excellent Article Daphne" which made the red haired journalist smile as she read them; after browsing through about a dozen messages which would fit the aforementioned categories, Daphne came to an e-mail that made her a bit curious; she didn't recognize the sender, but she decided to open it anyway, hoping that it might lead to another writing assignment; however as she read the e-mail she realized that it was not from a publisher or publication, it was from someone else entirely.

"Hmm, this is interesting; I wonder who would have my e-mail and would want to contact me?" the red head wondered as she continued reading; eventually she came to another portion of the message that she found intriguing, specifically the sender of the e-mail mentioned her father and the fact that he knew him at one time, which made her wonder even more about the message that she received.

"This just gets weirder and weirder, not only does this person have my e-mail address, but he also knows who my father is; maybe I should go downstairs and talk to him about this" Daphne said as she tapped her index finger against her chin while thinking about whether or not she decided to tell her father about the e-mail she received; a few minutes later she made her decision, as she pushed the print button and the e-mail began coming out of the nearby printer on the office's desk.

Once the e-mail had finished printing, Daphne grabbed it off the printer and placed it on the desk while she turned off her computer; a few moments later the red headed reporter/journalist/detective picked up the paper from the desk and headed downstairs, after she descended the staircase she walked into the front room of the mansion and walked over to where her parents were sitting and after kissing her father and hugging her mother she sat down on the sofa to discuss the e-mail she had just received only a few minutes ago.

The red head's parents smiled at their daughter after she plunked down on the brown sofa; after kissing Fred, during which she had a broad smile on her face, her parents noticed that her face had switched from an expression of happiness to an expression of concern and perhaps fright and nervousness; after a few moments of awkward silence between the gang and the red head's parents, Daphne's father spoke up and asked her daughter what was happening with her and why she looked the way she did.

"Daphne what's wrong? You look upset about something" Mr. Blake inquired.

"Well, it's really nothing too major" Daphne replied.

"Come on Daphne, we're your parents, we know and can tell when something's the matter with our only daughter, so…" Mrs. Blake added.

"Oh all right, I guess I can tell you guys; well, you see I just checked my e-mail in my office a little while ago and I got an e-mail from someone who knew my e-mail address, which I don't give out to strangers, and in addition it seems that this person knows you dad" Daphne explained.

"Hmm, interesting and a little strange to boot; Daphne, do you still have the e-mail?" Mr. Blake asked.

"Sure do, I printed it out so that you and mom could read it" Daphne replied.

"Good, is there any chance that I or your mother could read the e-mail?" Mr. Blake asked.

"Sure dad, why don't I give it to you, okay?" Daphne replied.

"Sounds good" Mr. Blake said.

The red haired teen then stood up from the sofa and brought the piece of paper over to her father so that he could read it and better understand what was happening; the wealthy teen's father then began scanning the e-mail, looking for some clue as to why his daughter had been contacted by, for lack of a better word: a stranger; however it was a few minutes later that Daphne's father put down the paper and smiled at his daughter and the rest of the gang, clearly he knew something that Daphne didn't, or rather that the rest of the group didn't either, so Daphne spoke up and asked her father why he was smiling.

"What's up dad, is something funny? Or did you find something in the e-mail? Wait, that's it, you found something in the e-mail, right?" Daphne said, firing questions at her father as if he was a suspect in a crime, which is something that would probably never happen, although considering her career as a sleuth Daphne was very good at asking questions of people, and at the moment she was displaying it very nicely.

"I guess it's not easy hiding anything from a daughter who's a detective, yes Daphne I did find something in the e-mail, and I think you and your friends might be interested in this, would you like me to read it?" Mr. Blake asked.

"We sure would Mr. Blake, go right ahead" Fred replied.

"Very well, here I go: to Miss Daphne Blake, as you probably might have guessed, you may or may not know me, however I would wager that your father George does, so since I have never met you, let me introduce myself; my name is Franklin Larson, I am a wealthy business man who along with my wife April reside in a large mansion about fifty miles from Coolsville, as to the reason why I am writing you, I have read and heard many things about you from your father, who was an old classmate of mine in school; every time our class gets together for reunions, he always raves about my daughter Daphne, and how she's a world famous detective, which I find very fascinating and which is why I contacted you Daphne; during a conversation with your father many years ago, the two of us exchanged contact information including e-mail addresses, in addition he gave me your e-mail, in case I ever needed a mystery solved, and as I understand from your father, you are very good at it" Mr. Blake began reading from the paper.

"Good? Daphne's as good as any one of us, heck she took the lead when Velma and I were in college, and she was very good at it, plus she kept Mystery Inc. running for a long time, in fact when we were in school Velma and I forgot about it for a while, but Daphne didn't and I love her for that" Fred said as he leaned over and kissed Daphne on the cheek.

"Thank you Freddie, that was very sweet of you to say and I love you too" Daphne replied as she kissed Fred on the cheek.

"You're welcome Daphne; so Mr. Blake is there any more of the e-mail?" Fred wondered.

"There sure is Fred, would you like me to keep reading?" Mr. Blake asked.

"Sure, go right ahead" Fred replied.

"Wonderful; to continue: as I mentioned earlier in my e-mail Daphne, your father gave me your contact information, just in case I needed a mystery solved; I also mentioned that I lived in a large mansion, about fifty miles outside of Coolsville, which has been my home for many years, and I greatly enjoy it, as I'm sure you do our parents mansion; now, as to the reason I e-mailed you: as I already mentioned your father gave me your e-mail address in case I ever needed a mystery solved, which is exactly why I want to request you and your friends service as detectives" Mr. Blake continued reading.

"Jeepers, I wonder what he means by requests our services?" Daphne wondered.

"Well Daph, there's only one way to find out and that's for Mr. Blake to finish the e-mail, go right ahead Mr. Blake" Fred added.

"Thank You Fred; Miss Blake, the reason I wrote you is because I have a mystery for you and your friends to solve, actually I take it back, it's not so much a mystery as much as it is a challenge; in fact if you and your friends decide to take up this challenge, I can promise you a great reward" Mr. Blake continued.

"Now that sounds interesting, like I wonder what kind of reward this Mr. Larson is talking about?" Shaggy remarked.

"Actually Shaggy, Mr. Larson does mention the specific reward in the e-mail, here let me continue reading and I'll share what he means; Miss Blake, if you and your associates agree to take up the challenge that I am proposing and if you are successful in completing it, I will personally award you and each of your friends a certified check for one million dollars to do with as you each see fit" Mr. Blake continued.

"Jeepers!" Daphne exclaimed.

"Jinkies!" Velma added.

"Like a million dollars!" Shaggy said, somewhat excitedly.

"Roh roy, a rillion rollars!" Scooby said, somewhat joyfully.

"Wow! That's a lot of money!" Scrappy added.

"Yeah, it is, except for one thing" Fred remarked.

"What's that Freddie?" Daphne asked.

"Well Daphne, your dad has funded our adventures for years and he seems happy doing it, so are we really sure we need a million dollars each?" Fred answered with a question of his own.

The blond teenager and the red head pondered this question for a few moments that is until Scrappy Doo and Velma each sat up from the sofa at the same time, looking as if they had both made a break through; Fred and Daphne noticed that both of them looked pretty happy so he asked them what they had thought of.

"Hey Velma, Scrappy, what's up?" Fred questioned.

"Yeah guys, let us in on it" Daphne added.

"Well Fred, Scrappy and I were whispering to each other while you guys were talking and we both came up with a great idea" Velma said.

"Cool, so what is it?" Daphne asked.

"It's pretty simple, you guys have been solving mysteries for so many years and helped so many people over the decades, so why don't we take Mr. Larson's challenge and with the million dollars that each of us will get, why don't we give it to charity? I mean there are a lot of people who need the money more than we do, so why don't we assist some of the charities that each of us really like and give the money to them" Scrappy explained.

"Scrappy, that's actually a really great idea" Fred replied.

"Yeah Scrappy, I think you and Velma came up with a fantastic idea, I really like it" Daphne agreed.

"Thanks guys, although I can't take all the credit, I mean after all Velma did think of it, I just repeated it to you guys" Scrappy replied.

"Right, and believe me Scrappy, I couldn't have done it without you" Velma said as she picked up the younger Great Dane and kissed him on the fore head.

"Aww, thanks Velma, that was really nice of you" Scrappy replied as he started to blush a little.

"You're welcome Scrappy, I mean after all I was just being polite and nice" Velma remarked.

"Yes she was, and that's why I love her so much" Shaggy said as he moved closer to Velma and kissed her on the cheek.

"Thanks Shaggy, I love you too" Velma replied as she kissed Shaggy on his cheek.

"Okay, so we're all agreed; we'll take Mr. Larson's challenge and we'll give our prize money to charity, right gang?" Fred asked.

"Right!" the rest of Mystery Inc. replied in unison.

"You know, I almost forgot, we still don't know what the challenge is, or why Mr. Larson needs our services" Daphne remarked.

"Hey, you're right Daphne, Mr. Blake does it say in the e-mail what Mr. Larson wants us for?" Fred asked.

"It does Fred, and it sounds rather intriguing and probably right up your alley, here let me read the rest of it; the mystery, or rather challenge that I propose to you and your friends is this: my mansion has a rather long and strange history of supernatural occurrences taking place inside it, simply put: my house is haunted, which is why I decided to contact you Miss Blake; I understand that you and your friends are experts in solving supernatural type mysteries and I figured that this challenge might be suited to you and your friends tastes as detectives" Mr. Blake continued.

"L-l-like I f-figured there was going to be a catch to his offer" Shaggy remarked.

"Oh don't act like a scaredy cat Shaggy, you know there's no such thing as ghosts or monsters" Velma replied somewhat sternly.

"Yeah and besides, there are a lot of people we know that could use that million dollars that Mr. Larson is offering us" Scrappy added.

"Scrappy's right, besides this will be a good chance to get back to solving cases involving ghosts and monsters instead of some of our most recent cases, not to mention all those people who threatened us with guns and things like that" Fred commented.

"I can agree with that Freddie, plus it would be nice to solve a normal case involving a haunted house for once, although I guess those are the hazards that go along with being a detective" Daphne remarked.

"There's just one other thing I want to know before we decide on what to do, Mr. Blake what else is there in the e-mail?" Fred asked.

"Well, I can read some more if you would like Fred" Mr. Blake commented.

"Sounds good to me Mr. Blake, go right ahead" Fred replied.

"Okay, here's the rest of it: Miss Blake, now that you know what I am offering to you and your associates and the background of my home I must tell you this: the challenge that I have decided on is fairly simple, and if you and your friends complete it, to the letter I will present each of you with a million dollars as I promised earlier in the e-mail; now that you know about the reward and the risk I can describe the challenge: if you and your friends spend one entire night, that is from when you arrive to sunrise the next morning in my home, without leaving, or without contacting anyone for assistance or help I will present each of you with a million dollar check, as I explained; I leave it to you Miss Blake, if you and your associates except this challenge, please phone me at the enclosed number and I will give you directions to my home; also, I understand you have two Great Danes that solve mysteries with you, they will both be happy to know that I not only allow dogs in my home, but they will be treated very well, like canine kings, also I have a fully stocked kitchen, pantry and numerous other amusement items in my home for you to use while you stay there; the choice is yours and yours alone my dear, however I would greatly appreciate a prompt response as to your decision, when you come to your decision I can accommodate you and your friends any night in the next few weeks, in addition I have a full garage and I know that your group's van The Mystery Machine will be fully taken care of, with those words I end my correspondence and look forward to you and your friends arrival at my home Miss Blake, I am quite eager to meet all of you sincerely, Franklin and April Larson" Mr. Blake finished.

"Phew, that was a mouthful" Mr. Blake added.

"Jeepers, I'll say it was, but at least now we know what we have to do to collect the million dollars" Daphne replied.

"Right, and it sounds pretty simple: just a basic stay at a haunted house for a night, avoid being scared away and Mr. Larson will pay us for the whole night's experience, or something similar" Fred remarked.

"Like it doesn't sound that simple to me, it sounds like something out of a horror movie; you know something horrible is going to happen to one of us if we stay there" Shaggy commented sounding frightened as usual, although in this case he didn't sit shivering in terror, this time he moved over to Velma and clung to her shoulder and arm for support, which she sometimes did with him, although because Shaggy was doing it, Velma thought it was a little unusual.

"Shaggy, what could happen to you at a wealthy businessman's house?" Velma asked, not really minding that he was being so affectionate towards her.

"First of, it would be at night, second it would be fifty miles away from here, probably in the middle of nowhere, and third the place is haunted; like that's what could happen" Shaggy replied, counting off what could possibly occur on his fingers.

"Shaggy, you're making a big deal out of nothing; I'm sure Mr. Larson and his wife are quite nice, besides Scooby and you could probably check out his kitchen while we're there" Velma said.

"Ritchen, roh roy!" Scooby exclaimed.

"That's right and don't forget Shaggy, I'll be there with you to keep you company in case you get scared" Velma commented as she moved closer to Shaggy, eventually she took his hand and smiled at him as she looked into his eyes.

"Like that's a good point Velma, and besides there's no one else I would rather spend a night in a haunted house with then you" Shaggy replied as he smiled back at the intelligent teen.

"Thanks Shaggy, that means a lot to me" Velma said.

"You're welcome Velma" Shaggy replied.

"Okay, so we're all in agreement? We'll head to Mr. Larson's house and spend the night there like he wants" Fred remarked.

"Right!" the rest of the gang replied.

"Cool, now all we have to do is phone Mr. Larson, tell him we've agreed to his mystery or challenge as he put it, and set up a day that we could come there and spend the night there" Fred explained.

"Excellent; Daphne, do you and the rest of the gang have a specific date that you're going to go up to Franklin's house?" Mr. Blake asked.

"Well dad, it's kind of late to go there today; I mean we would need time to pack, do research about Mr. Larson and his wife and the mansion, basically we would need time to prepare for the trip" Daphne replied.

"True Daphne and you know, we could turn this mystery into something for our jobs" Fred remarked.

"You know Freddie, that's not a bad idea; plus the two of us are free lance journalists so we don't really have a set schedule, we can work for any newspaper or magazine or publication that we like, or any one that hires us" Daphne added.

"Okay, so Daphne and I are on board; Shaggy, Velma what about you guys?" Fred asked.

"Hmm, like I guess I can stand to close the restaurant for a day, I mean it's doing great business and we have a pretty good staff; maybe I'll call it a staff training day or something like that, or a remodeling day, so I'm on board, what about you Velma?" Shaggy commented, before looking over at the auburn haired beauty, and more specifically her eyes.

"Well, I could close the bookstore for a day or so too; it's doing well enough to close for one day and besides, with us going on a case, maybe it will make great promotion for the store, and maybe I can persuade Mr. Larson and his wife to drop by the store on occasion too, okay I'm on board" Velma replied as she looked back at Shaggy, and specifically you guessed it: his eyes.

"Hey, you know we forgot a couple of people, or rather dogs" Fred remarked.

"Yeah, what about you Scooby and Scrappy, I'm guessing you guys are on board with this mystery?" Velma remarked.

"Are you kidding? Of course we're coming, plus we wouldn't miss a chance to see real ghosts or monsters for anything, right Uncle Scooby?" Scrappy asked.

"Rure Rappy, resides ri'm retting rtir razy raround rere" Scooby replied.

"Okay, so Uncle Scooby and I are on board" Scrappy commented.

"So we're all agreed, Daphne and I will do articles on our stay at the house and Velma and Shaggy will take a day off from their businesses, right?" Fred asked.

"Right!" the rest of the gang said in unison.

"Well, I guess that takes care of that; now, all we have to do is call up Mr. Larson's house, and Velma and Shaggy, you guys can call your businesses and take care of anything that needs to be sorted out as far as the book store and the restaurant go, meanwhile Daphne and I will take care of all the necessary arrangements as far as figuring out what date we'll stay the night at Mr. Larson's house" Fred explained.

"And Uncle Scooby and I will help the four of you take care of the phone calls and research right Uncle Scooby?" Scrappy said.

"Right Rappy" Scooby replied.

"Oh and Daphne?" Mr. Blake said.

"Yes dad?" Daphne answered.

"I just want to let you know that your mother and I will be happy to help you and your friends with your research and phone calls, or with anything that you might need help with as far as preparations for this mystery go" Mr. Blake replied.

"Thank you Dad, thank you Mom, you guys are the best parents of all time" Daphne said as she walked over to her parents and hugged them like no child had ever hugged a parent before, which made her mother and father both smile broadly.

"You're welcome dear," Mrs. Blake said.

"That goes for me as well dear, and you know that anything you do we'll support and anything that you need help with, your mother and I will assist you with" Mr. Blake added.

"Thanks again guys, like I said before you're the best" Daphne said as continued hugging her parents, as well as giving her father a quick peck on the cheek.

"Okay gang, we've got our plan of action, so now let's get to work" Fred declared.

"Right!" the rest of the gang replied in unison.

So with that the six members of the Mystery Inc. detective agency, as well as Daphne's parents began preparations for what could possibly be one of the group of young adult and canine sleuths biggest quite possibly scariest adventure ever; Fred and Daphne headed for the red head's upstairs office to alert their past publishers that they would each by writing another article, Velma and Shaggy headed for the telephone to alert the employees of the businesses they owned that both the restaurant and book store would be closed for the next couple of days, Scooby and Scrappy along with Daphne's parents began packing suitcases and Scooby Snacks for their latest adventure.

Once all of this was finished Daphne, joined by her father contacted the mysterious businessman named Mr. Larson and informed him that she and the gang had accepted the wealthy man's challenge and would be spending the night at the wealthy man's mansion; following a ten minute conversation, which included Daphne's father talking to his fellow schoolmate about the red head, specifically her hobbies, her schooling and her current life and career, the red head hung up the phone and informed the gang that they would be spending the next evening at the wealthy businessman's mansion, which is when Daphne and her father agreed that the group of detectives would go to collect the million dollar prize that Mr. Larson promised them.

With the date of the gang's latest venture set, Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy, Scooby and Scrappy started upon the task of researching Mr. and Mrs. Larson and their home, in addition to the somewhat peculiar history involving the mansion's supernatural occurrences; half of the group of sleuths took the Mystery Machine to the library to look up any information they could that might help them in their latest mystery, while the rest stayed behind at Blake Manor and did the same thing.

Later on in the day after the research was finished, the Blakes', and the members of Mystery Inc. pleased their palettes by sampling a delicious lunch and an equally delicious dinner cooked up by the mansion's kitchen staff, which included a marvelous array of desserts, which Shaggy and Scooby enjoyed to no end; hours later after the food was eaten and the dishes put away, the gang headed to sleep after taking baths and brushing their teeth, and after that each member of Mystery Inc. drifted off to bed, thinking about their newest adventure, which might just end up being the most frightening case the group of sleuths had ever encountered.

Author's Notes: Hopefully everybody likes the Shelma and Fraphne in this story; also, hopefully everyone likes how Scrappy is portrayed in this fan fic, also while Scooby didn't have too many lines in this first chapter, he'll have plenty of lines and dialogue in the rest of this story; thanks for reading and reviewing as always.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The early morning October sun shone brilliantly through the windows of the immense estate known as Blake Manor; inside Scooby Doo and company, as well as Daphne Blake's parents were passing the time until the gang would leave for the Larson's Mansion by doing some last minute preparation and packing as well as making sure the directions to the house where the gang would spend the night were accurate, considering what was at stake for them and considering they didn't want to get lost on the way there.

Once the preparations for the trip were finished the gang said goodbye to Daphne's parents, with the red head giving her mother and father a hug and wishing them well during the time that the teen beauty would be gone; as the Mystery Machine pulled out of the Blake Mansion's driveway, Daphne's parents waved goodbye to her and hoped that their daughter would be safe and sound once the mystery was completed, although with Fred Jones around and protecting their daughter they figured she would be well taken care of.

After the brightly painted red and green van left the wealthy red haired teen's estate, Fred guided the vehicle through the hills surrounding the immense mansion and into the small town of Coolsville, which had been the gang's home for who knows how many years; however, as usual the gang's time in the small town was limited, in this case the group of sleuths made stops to refuel the Mystery Machine, making sure that the gas wouldn't run out before the team of investigators reached their intended destination, as well as checking the tires to see if they had enough air, and making sure the radiator had enough water, in case something happened to it as well, which the gang were hoping it wouldn't.

In addition the group of teenagers made stops at a local store to stock up on extra provisions and a stop at their usual hangout: the Malt Shop, for some lunch; once each of the Mystery Machine's stops were completed and the gang were back inside the van, they headed out of the small town of Coolsville and towards the mysterious mansion of Daphne's father's old classmate Mr. Larson.

Inside the Mystery Machine Fred performed his usual task of driving the vehicle while Daphne sat in the passenger's side seat in the front of the van; meanwhile in the back of the automobile, Velma and Shaggy were sitting in chairs installed in the Mystery Machine some time back, the chairs were particularly good for the members of the detective agency because they made the trips to their various mysteries more enjoyable because now the four human members of the group would be able to sit in the van, as opposed the gang's first few years of solving mysteries when only two or three of them would be able to sit in the front seat of the van and the rest would usually be sitting cross legged on the floor in the back.

Also in the back of the van Scooby Doo and Scrappy Doo were doing what they usually did on long trips such as these, specifically Scrappy Doo was doing some reading and helping Velma out with reading the map and researching more about the area where they were heading; while Scooby Doo was playing one of Shaggy's hand held video games, which he had plenty of thanks to the success of his restaurant in Coolsville, while the Great Dane took on various challenges in video game form, the cowardly green shirted teenager looked over at Scooby and smiled at the thought of how much he enjoyed having Scooby as a friend and as a pet as well; of course the same could be said for Scrappy Doo, who had seemed to change a lot from his early years with the gang, although while he still wanted to splat every villain he faced, he became much smarter, specifically he helped Fred with traps, Daphne with writing, Velma with science and technology items, and Shaggy and Scooby by helping them create new recipes, in addition Scrappy had been helping more and more with the gang's mysteries, and had even solved a few of them in the past, when the other members of the group had been stumped as far as who the villain of a particular case was or what his or her motive was.

Of course Shaggy's gaze soon shifted from his cowardly pet and his nephew to his girlfriend Velma; the two of them started out so many years ago as just friends, similar to Daphne and Fred, but as time went on the two of them started to do a lot more things together, in fact the two of them went to quite a few high school dances together and he even brought her to a few family gatherings as his date, while she did the same for him; both of them had a few suitors for their hands in romance and love, but deep down both Shaggy and Velma knew that they both had been there for each other and would always be there for each other, so it was to no one's surprise that the two of them started dating and eventually realized they were in love, which meant them becoming boyfriend and girlfriend, like their friends Fred and Daphne.

Scooby Doo knew that Velma had been his friend for many years and had always treated Shaggy nicely, so while he thought it was a little unusual at first for the two of them to be dating and in love, eventually he decided not to make such a big deal about it, although he did tag along with them on a few occasions when they went to the park or somewhere for a walk, which both of them didn't seem to mind; considering he had been living with Scooby's sister and training as a Police Dog for most of the time that Shaggy and Velma were dating, Scrappy found it a little unusual for them to be in love and while he noticed the two of them looking into each other's eyes, he made a mental note to ask his uncle about this when the gang arrived at Mr. Larson's mansion, or at least some time afterwards.

The Ohio skies which had been sunny when the gang left Coolsville turned increasingly gray and foreboding as the Mystery Machine continued down the interstate; each of the members of Mystery Inc. were amazed at how the weather had turned from beautiful and bright to dark, stormy and somewhat frightening, which considering some of the group's past cases during days and nights with bad weather was probably not something the team of detectives wanted to think about.

The dark clouds overhead dumped an untold amount of water on the roadways leading to the gang's intended destination, which caused the blond driver of the Mystery Machine to be extra careful, just in case the roads became flooded, which no one in Mystery Inc. wanted at all; in addition to the rain, the dark clouds over head produced loud, booming lightning and thunder which caused each member of the detective agency to shiver in fright, especially since lightning and thunder to Mystery Inc. usually meant in addition to the usual possibility of downed trees and power lines, also meant the possibility of encountering quite a few ghosts and ghouls in the case of a mystery, which also made each member of the group quite tense and nervous.

Fred Jones continued to guide the Mystery Machine along the winding highway, passing farmyards, silos and the occasional horse and cow, although for some reason there were numerous creatures of the equine and bovine variety standing and grazing while with every mile the Mystery Machine drove, they came closer and closer to their eventual destination and their appointment with yet another haunted house.

The drive to Mr. Larson's mansion took several hours and spanned nearly fifty miles between the time that the gang left Blake Manor and the present, not to mention it was long and tedious, although each member of Mystery Inc. did manage to occupy themselves in each of their own specific ways; finally at around 5 PM in the evening, Velma spoke up from the back of the van with map in hand and informed the driver of the red and green van that the group of sleuths were now close to their intended destination.

"Judging by the directions that Mr. Larson gave you Daphne, it looks like we're about 10 minutes away from his mansion" Velma remarked as she looked over the sheet of paper that the red head had handed her which had the directions to the location of the gang's latest case on it; while the red head had written down the directions to the house down after Mr. Larson gave her them, she knew that her bespectacled teammate was a good navigator so she handed the page over to Velma before Mystery Inc. left the Blake Estate.

"Great, that means we should probably be there by around 5:30 PM" Daphne responded.

"Right Daphne and I can't wait to get there; actually it would be nice to get off the roads as soon as possible, considering the highway looks like a typhoon hit it" Fred replied.

"L-like I just hope we don't get caught in a typhoon or flash flood, or worse" Shaggy said nervously.

"Oh Shaggy, don't be silly; typhoons only happen usually in Asia, the worse we could get is a tornado or hurricane" Velma said in a matter of fact tone.

"Ripes!" Scooby yelped before starting to whimper.

"Like thanks Velma, me and Scooby feel a whole lot better now" Shaggy replied, folding his arms and looking clearly annoyed with his girlfriend at the moment.

"Aw come on Shaggy and Uncle Scooby, the chances of a hurricane or a tornado hitting this exact area during our stay are very minute considering the time of year, the cloud patterns and…." Scrappy began explaining before Shaggy cut him off.

"Okay Scrappy, I get it; but Scooby Doo and I are still really nervous" Shaggy replied.

"Shaggy, Scrappy's right, the chances of something like that happening at this very time of year on this very date are slim to none; besides I checked the historical weather records for the area we're traveling to and the last recorded tornado that touched down here was 1920, so I doubt we'll have to worry about that" Velma added.

"Well…" Shaggy said, still unsure of what to say.

"Ah, I know what will calm you and Scooby down" Velma replied with a smile; she then motioned for Scooby and Shaggy to move closer to her and when they did she gave Shaggy a kiss on the cheek and Scooby one as well; she then reached into an orange purse she had purchased some time ago, which she always carried with her and was actually quite useful for carrying her glasses in it as well as any possible clues that she or the gang found during a mystery; after looking through her purse she found a small Ziploc bag with what looked to be brown cookies in them and handed a couple each to Shaggy and Scooby.

"There you go guys, I know how much you like Scooby Snacks, so I packed a couple bags; now when you guys get scared you can get a kiss from me and a snack as well" the bespectacled young adult said, all the while looking at Shaggy and grinning like a Cheshire Cat.

"Thanks Velma, you know you really are the perfect girlfriend" Shaggy remarked.

"Reah, rand rou're rhe rerfect reind roo," Scooby added.

"That's for sure Uncle Scooby; you know Velma, I really think your comment about me was accurate" Scrappy replied.

"What's that Scrappy?" Velma asked.

"I think there's more than enough room in Mystery Inc. for two of its members to be intelligent and smart" Scrappy said.

Velma then motioned for the young Great Dane to come over to where she was sitting, Scrappy did so and when he sat in the intelligent teenager's lap, Velma kissed him on the cheek, which made the young puppy's cheeks grow a bright shade of crimson.

"Thanks Velma" Scrappy remarked as his cheeks were still a bright shade of red.

"Aww, I think Scrappy's blushing" Daphne said as she looked into the back seat to see what was occurring.

"Like I think he is, isn't he?" Shaggy agreed.

"Rep, rhat's ry rephew, Rappy Roo" Scooby replied as he put his arm around his nephew and gave him a friendly hug.

"Thanks Uncle Scooby, you're the best uncle in the world," Scrappy said.

"Ri know" Scooby replied, while chuckling a bit.

The rest of the members of Mystery Inc. chuckled a bit as well, Scrappy Doo had truly become a valued and trustworthy member of the team of detectives and he was showing his worth once again to Scooby and company, which he had done many times in the past; the cowardly Great Dane's nephew smiled at his uncle and at his uncle's friends, realizing just how good his life was with Mystery Inc. and how wonderful an uncle Scooby Doo was, and how wonderful Scooby's friends were; Scrappy loved solving mysteries with his uncle and his friends and it was clear as the Mystery Machine continued on that Scrappy couldn't wish for anything else other than solving mysteries, or any better friends than Fred, Daphne, Velma and Shaggy, or for that matter a better uncle than Scooby Doo.

Several minutes passed and inside the Mystery Machine, Velma spoke up once again and informed her friends of their progress towards their intended destination, specifically the latest haunted place that Mystery Inc. was headed for.

"According to Mr. Larson's directions we should arrive at his mansion within 10 more minutes or so; from reading the paper that he gave us we have to pass through a town called Edwardsville before we get to his estate, which is a few miles outside of town" Velma explained.

"Okay Velma, on we go" Fred said as he turned the wheel of the Mystery Machine and continued to guide the van along the Ohio highway; although as the vehicle approached the exit for Edwardsville, the occupants of the brightly colored car noticed that they were being jostled about in their seats, while Scooby and Scrappy were tossed around in the back seat, and eventually Scooby found himself on Shaggy's lap and Scrappy found himself on Velma's lap, which slightly annoyed the pair of human sleuths.

"Not that I mind Scooby's company, but Fred could you please watch the bumps?" Shaggy asked.

"I don't mind Scrappy's company either, but could you take it easy with the bumps too Fred?" Velma added.

"Sorry guys I can't help you out there, I can't do anything about the bumps in the road; I guess the highway crew forgot to pave this road" Fred remarked.

"Well just try and take it easy with the bumps Fred, I don't want my glasses to end up broken or on Shaggy's face" Velma commented.

"Like actually I wouldn't mind your glasses on my face Velma" Shaggy remarked, before he winked over at Velma, who smiled back at him.

Daphne then looked back at her friends and smiled, as she enjoyed the fact that Shaggy and Velma decided to start dating, and eventually became boyfriend and girlfriend like she and Fred; the red head then turned back around and looked out the windshield of the Mystery Machine as the van continued along the highway.

Several minutes later the pastel green van pulled off the interstate and onto the exit for the small town of Edwardsville; within five minutes Fred had pulled the Mystery Machine off the interstate and into the small town which was the last city or town the gang would see before they reached Mr. Larson's mansion.

The town of Edwardsville was pretty much your average small American town, basically the town wasn't much different from any other small town you might see in the United States; as the Mystery Machine passed through the small town, each of its passengers looked out the windows of the van and saw a few small stores, a diner, a drug store, a post office and other buildings, all of which populated the town's main street.

Soon the Mystery Machine reached the outskirts of the small town of Edwardsville, although just as fast as the van entered the small town, it exited the quaint township; by that point the green van lumbered along a stretch of road, which was flanked by large maple and oak trees and not much anything else, well other than a few houses every so often along with the occasional cow and horse; as Mystery Inc. traveled further and further, they got closer and closer to the home of the mysterious Mr. Larson and his wife, which was where the group of young sleuths and their canines would encounter their latest adventure and if they weren't careful it might just be the last mystery they would ever encounter or solve.

Author's Notes: I wasn't sure how to write most of this chapter, although I eventually decided to describe the gang's trip to the haunted mansion that they were set to investigate; hopefully everybody likes that and enjoys the story so far, I will definitely be writing more and I will be writing as much as possible.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The Mystery Machine continued along the dark, winding road which would eventually lead to the home of Mr. and Mrs. Larson, the somewhat unusual wealthy business man that had put upon the gang a challenge involving a haunted mansion; Mr. Larson's challenge involved that the team of sleuths spend one night in the mansion, without leaving and without being scared away, if they did this their reward would be great: one million dollars each, however the group's journey to the Larson estate seemed to be in a word cursed, although the gang couldn't tell it at the moment; for the past several hours rain poured from the sky and lightning and thunder crackled above the green van, while inside its passengers prepared to face their latest mystery, which judging by what Mr. Larson had told them promised to be an unusual mystery at that.

Several minutes passed and the Mystery Machine found itself traveled along what looked to be a road made of not much more than brown dirt and a few assorted rocks; the colorfully painted vehicle seemed to once again find every nook and cranny of the road that was unpaved as it approached what looked to be a small wooden bridge that spanned what looked to be a small body of water, although most of Mystery Inc. weren't quite sure what the body of water was.

"What a quaint old bridge; I wonder how long it's been here?" Daphne asked.

"Good question Daphne, maybe when we get to Mr. Larson's mansion we'll ask him about it" Fred added as he drove the van across the small bridge; although while the blond teenager drove the vehicle across it, Shaggy found himself holding onto Velma's shoulder tightly, just in case the worst happened and the bridge started falling apart, which no one wanted.

"Jinkies, I hope this old bridge doesn't start to collapse while we're on it" Velma remarked with a gulp.

"Like you and me both Vel, besides I didn't bring me my swimming trunks" Shaggy quipped, trying to make light what could become a very dark situation while he clung to Velma at the same time.

"Don't worry guys, nothing is going to happen to us; at least while I'm driving that is" Fred commented, while he wondered in the back of hid mind if indeed his statement was going to be true.

Scooby, Scrappy and Daphne held onto various parts of the van, while Shaggy and Velma held onto each other, both for dear life as the Mystery Machine lumbered over the creaky wooden bridge; at this point the six members of Mystery Inc. each silently prayed to themselves, hoping that they wouldn't fall off the bridge and into the water below, which Velma assumed, at least in the back of her mind to be part of a larger body of water, possibly a river or lake; after what seemed to be forever, but in reality was only a few minutes the Mystery Machine at last made it over the wooden bridge and over the water.

"Phew, we're past the bridge now gang" Fred remarked while the rest of the gang breathed a huge sigh of relief, as they had avoided disaster, at least for now; however, while Mystery Inc. had avoided one calamity, they would still have to deal with whatever monsters, ghosts, ghouls, or creatures that prowled Mr. Larson's mansion, which according to the directions that Velma was reading was fast approaching.

"Jeepers, thank goodness we didn't fall into that water; although it's too bad we didn't fall into the water" Daphne replied.

"Why would you want to fall into the water Daph? It's probably pretty cold" Fred asked, somewhat curious as to why his red haired colleague would make such a statement.

"Simple, if we did fall into the water, I would be able to swim; or at least do a convincing impression of a mermaid" Daphne quipped.

"Um Daph, you're not a mermaid" Fred corrected her.

"True, I'm not; but you have to admit, aren't I as pretty as one?" Daphne asked as she fluttered her eyelashes at the blond teenager, who even though he was driving still managed to catch Daphne's reflection, fluttering eyebrows and all in the front windshield of the van and out of the corner of his eye.

"Daphne, I have to disagree with you" Fred said.

"Why Freddie?" Daphne asked with a disappointed tone in her voice.

"Because in my opinion, you're more beautiful then any mermaid ever seen on screen or in any book or magazine ever published" Fred replied, with a romantic tone in his voice.

"Oh Freddie, I didn't know you cared" Daphne said, sounding as happy as a schoolgirl that her boyfriend had given her such a description.

"It was no problem at all Daphne, and I was more than happy to do it" Fred remarked, all the while keeping his eyes on the road.

"You're welcome Freddie, you know you're so wonderful" Daphne replied, looking over at the driver's seat where her strong and handsome boyfriend was sitting.

"I know" Fred remarked, blushing a little as he drove, although because he was driving Daphne didn't see him blush, but you could tell his face and cheeks were becoming a bright shade of red.

After driving over the small, rickety wooden bridge the Mystery Machine continued on along a small dirt road, which looked to be littered with dozens of rocks; luckily for the gang none of the rocks were that big, so none of them presented much of a challenge to the driver of the van, although if they did present a challenge Fred was sure he could handle it and he was definitely sure that he could drive the Mystery Machine through any uncertainty.

While the famous van drove on, each member of Mystery Inc. found him or herself looking out the windows and gazing upon the abundant foliage that flanked the small road; although usually foliage meant beauty and on occasions tourism, the trees and plants that surrounded the road made the area the Mystery Machine was driving through didn't necessarily make it the brightest part of the world to be in.

Even though it was October, Scooby and company noticed that the trees and plants were losing leaves, or the leaves were turning colors from green into various shades of yellow, orange and red, and in addition to that the members of Mystery Inc. noticed that maybe, just maybe some of the trees looked like they could come alive and come after the gang, although Fred and Velma knew that wasn't the case, however Shaggy, Scooby, Scrappy and Daphne knew that there was a possibility of trees coming alive, because they had experienced such a phenomenon before.

The Mystery Machine then started on what would be the final leg of its journey to the estate of the mysterious Mr. Larson as the van continued to lumber along the dirt road, which seemed to include dozens of twists and turns, which caused the young adult detectives and their canines to hang on for dear life whenever the vehicle made a quick or sharp turn around a corner; after about five minutes more of driving, each of the members of Mystery Inc. peered outside the windows of the vehicle and noticed a large two story building with a brown tile roof, a somewhat lush looking garden and a large satellite dish next to the building, among other features coming into view.

Each of the members of the group of young adults whistled in amazement as they gazed at the building; the main reason for the whistling was two fold: first, they marveled at the mere size of the structure and the surrounding area, while the other reason for the whistling was why a structure such as this seemed to be located in the middle of nowhere, miles away from any city or town, or any kind of civilization at all; as the Mystery Machine drove on, Velma brought out the piece of paper with the directions their mysterious friend had given them and informed the gang that their journey was for all intensive purposes over.

"Fred, keep going the way you're currently going, because according to this it leads right to the front gate of Mr. and Mrs. Larson's mansion" the bespectacled girl explained.

"Jeepers, you mean that's where we're going to spend the night?" Daphne asked, with a partially nervous, partially shocked and partially amazed look on her face; the red head seemed to be nervous that this was where the gang were supposed to encounter ghosts or spooks as Mr. Larson said they would, while she seemed to be shocked and amazed that such a place would actually have ghosts or monsters lurking about the property.

"Like f-for once I agree with Daphne, I'm not setting one single solitary foot inside that creepy place, and nothing, but nothing is going to make me go in there" Shaggy replied nervously.

"Nothing?" Velma asked, turning her head towards the cowardly sleuth and smiling.

"Well, like that's one thing that can make me go in a haunted house" Shaggy replied, smiling back at her.

Following the road further, the Mystery Machine soon stopped in front of a pair of large iron gates, which looked to have developed their fair share of rust over the years, as the members of Mystery Inc. looked out at the rusty metal gates, they noticed just how much the metal had corroded over time and if the gates had been oiled recently or not; as the van sat idle at the front gates, the members of Mystery Inc. also noticed that there was a small metal box with what looked to be a push button on the bottom on a stone column next to the gates.

"According to this one of us has to push the button and let the mansion's security know we're here so they can open the gates and we can go through" Velma stated, while reading from the sheet of paper.

"Okay; well, since it looks like the metal box is on my side of the van I'll roll down the passenger side window and let the security know we're here" Daphne replied; Fred agreed with his red haired girlfriend and pushed a button on the inside of the driver's side door, soon Daphne's window rolled down and the red head leaned out of the window and pushed the button on the call box to inform Mr. Larson's security of the group's arrival.

"Yes?" a deep masculine voice answered, echoing out of the call box.

"Hi, my name is Daphne Blake and Mr. Larson e-mailed me and my friends to invite us to stay the night at his mansion, he's expecting us" the red head replied.

"Just a moment" the voice remarked; the group of sleuths could hear some papers being shuffled around as they waited to enter the premises, a few minutes later the gang got their response as the voice crackled once again through the call box.

"All right, I checked some papers here with me and Miss Blake, you are indeed expected, let me open the gates and you can drive your vehicle through" the voice said.

"OK" Daphne replied.

Suddenly the large iron gates opened and the Mystery Machine was able to drive through them; after the psychedelically painted van passed through the metal gates, they creaked shut, which meant that Scooby Doo and his friends were on the mansion's grounds for a while, at least until they decided to leave, or when the night was over, that is if they left at all.

Fred then continued to drive the Mystery Machine through a long, stone driveway which like the dirt road the group traveled on to get to the mansion was surrounded by large fir and oak trees, which seemed to also be losing leaves and possibly a few branches, although being an expert in botany, Velma knew that wasn't possible, but as the members of the team of sleuths gazed through the windows of the van they couldn't shake the feeling that maybe, just maybe there was something sinister, or evil about the mansion.

"Keep going on this road Fred, the mansion should be about 650-700 yards ahead" Velma noted, still reading from the directions that Mr. Larson had given Daphne, who then gave them to Velma.

"Will do" Fred agreed; the blond haired young adult skillfully drove the Mystery Machine the distance that Velma had mentioned and within a few minutes the gang's vehicle was parked in front of the large mansion that the mysterious Mr. Larson called home.

Fred then turned off the engine and pocketed the keys to the vehicle, and when the van was completely stopped, each of the car's passengers exited; after exiting the Mystery Machine the four young investigators and their pair of Great Danes stood in awe at the size of the mansion, specifically Daphne who was born into great wealth and lived in a mansion the size of the one they were going to spend the night in, however even she was surprised at how big the Larson estate was; while it seemed to be almost the size of the mansion she lived in, it looked at least to Daphne that this estate was much bigger.

As the six sleuths made their way up to the front door of the mansion, Daphne, as well as the rest of the gang wondered just what Mr. Larson could possibly have made his fortune in, which would explain how he could afford such a house; Daphne knew her parents made their fortune in cosmetics and bubble bath, but as she and the rest of Mystery Inc. approached the mansion she thought Could Mr. Larson be involved with cosmetics too? And if so maybe she could convince him to team up with her parents, of course Daphne didn't think too much of it, at least for now.

Soon Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy, Scooby Doo and Scrappy Doo stood at the front door of the Larson Mansion; as usual Fred took the liberty of ringing the doorbell, which as it sounded its chime, although as the chime played Shaggy and Scooby became nervous once again, because the doorbell sounded like something that they didn't want to hear; amazingly enough after a few seconds Velma also joined Shaggy and Scooby in being frightened because after hearing only a few seconds of the doorbell chime she became nervous, although it made sense considering she recognized what tune the chime was playing.

"L-like that's the creepiest doorbell I've ever heard" Shaggy commented, while his teeth chattered every few seconds.

"Reah, rhat's really scary" Scooby replied.

"For once I agree with you two, I'm getting chills just listening to that doorbell," Velma added.

"Aw come on you guys, what's so bad about a doorbell?" Fred asked, not minding that Shaggy and Scooby were scared, considering they usually acted this way when the gang visited a haunted house, although he was a little surprised that Velma was acting like this, considering she was usually one of the bravest members of the group.

"Yeah, it's just a doorbell, there's no need to be afraid" Daphne added.

"Fred and Daphne are right you guys, I mean I'm not scared of a little old doorbell and I know you guys shouldn't be" Scrappy said, agreeing with the blond haired young man and the red haired young woman.

"Well Scrappy, it's not that we're afraid of the doorbell, it's just the choice of music it's playing" Velma replied.

"What about it?" Fred asked.

"You mean you don't recognize it or don't remember what it is?" Velma answered with a question of her own.

"No not really" Daphne replied.

"Well, in that case I'll tell you guys: that tune is the music they play at funerals, it's the Funeral March!" Velma declared as he voice quivered a little, while she hung onto her cowardly boyfriend's arm and shoulder for both comfort and support.

"Rhe runeral rarch?" Scooby asked, somewhat nervously.

"L-like t-that's the song that this guy has as his doorbell chime?" Shaggy asked with a gulp, also somewhat nervously.

"That's what's making me so nervous; if this guy has a doorbell chime that plays the Funeral March, then that means we might not make it to see tomorrow!" Velma replied; the bespectacled teen then began tearing up, although because she was still hanging onto Shaggy's arm he took the opportunity to wipe away her tears with his fingers, he then reached into his pocket and pulled out a red handkerchief that he usually carried this time of the year, because he was prone to getting colds quite easily.

"Here Velma, you can dry your eyes with this" Shaggy said as he handed the red cloth over to Velma.

"Thank you Shaggy that was very nice of you" Velma replied as she dried her eyes with the handkerchief; she then smiled at him, while he smiled at her, the two of them then looked at each other for a few moments with great devotion and love in their eyes, this soon was followed by the two of them hugging each other, while the usually cowardly teen began reassuring Velma by softly stroking her cheek and shoulder.

"Like don't worry Velma, it's going to be okay; I'm here for you, we're all here for you, and as long as I'm around I'm not going to let anyone or anything hurt you, as a matter of fact I know that we're all going to be alive to see the sun again, I guarantee it" Shaggy remarked as he continued to softly stroke Velma's cheek.

"Shaggy?" Velma asked, as she looked deep into his eyes.

"Yes?" Shaggy answered.

"I think, you're right; I mean I was silly to be afraid of a little thing like a doorbell, besides things like doorbells can't hurt you, I mean they're inanimate objects" Velma replied.

"Right; although it's okay to be frightened of things, Scooby and I are frightened of ghosts and monsters and things like that, but we don't let it control our lives, we just find creative ways to control our fears" Shaggy said.

"Like cooking and eating?" Velma responded with a question on her own.

"Exactly, besides the things I mentioned I have something else that I'm afraid of, and that may or may not be so easy to be controlled" Shaggy replied.

"Oh, and what's that?" Velma asked, sounding somewhat curious.

"I'm afraid of losing you Velma; like if I lost you or you were kidnapped, I-I just don't know what I would do" Shaggy replied.

"Shaggy, that, that's beautiful; I-I would feel the same way if I lost you or you were kidnapped" Velma remarked, smiling back at him.

"I know you feel the same way I do Vel and that's why I love you" Shaggy said.

"Thanks Shaggy, and I love it when you call me by my nickname; plus I love you too" Velma replied; after their exchange, Velma kissed Shaggy on the cheek, while Shaggy responded by kissing Velma on the cheek.

After the bespectacled young woman and the cowardly young sleuth's exchange of affection, the gang continued to wait for someone to answer the doorbell; a few minutes later the group of sleuths could hear footsteps coming from inside the house, they seemed to echo throughout the house because they sounded loud enough to wake the dead, which as usual Shaggy and Scooby Doo cringe in fear; the footsteps grew louder and louder until the gang realized that whoever, or whatever was making the footsteps was now right behind the front door.

The ancient front door of the mansion creaked open and standing in the doorway of the estate was a tall, well-built man with black hair, wearing what looked to be a recently cleaned black suit, possibly a tuxedo, although Scooby and company figured that didn't make much sense considering the situation, as well as black slacks and brown shoes; the man seemed to have the build of a linebacker, which meant that it would probably be a good idea for Scooby Doo and company not to cross him during their stay at the mansion.

"Yes?" the man asked in a low and very frightening sounding voice; the way the man spoke caused Shaggy and Velma to cling to each other in fear, while at the same time Fred and Daphne clung to each other in fear; Scooby and Scrappy were a little nervous of the sight of such a large and statuesque man as well as they along with the rest of Mystery Inc. waited for the man to speak again, or for the leader of the group to say something.

"Uh, hi there; my name is Fred Jones, and these are my friends: Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and our dogs Scooby and Scrappy Doo; we, uh we were invited by Mr. Larson to spend the night at his house, he should be expecting us" Fred replied, his voice quivering as he spoke.

"Ah yes, miss Daphne Blake and her friends; yes the six of you are expected, now let me show you inside the mansion" the man remarked as he held the front door to the mansion open, which allowed the gang to enter inside the house.

With that Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy, Scooby Doo and Scrappy Doo stepped inside the mansion; each member of Mystery Inc. was a little apprehensive upon entering the estate, considering they were all about to spend a night in a haunted mansion, during a thunderstorm with a possible flash flood about to occur judging by the way things on the outside were looking.

"Jeepers, listen to that thunder and lightning, I'm really glad we're inside and not still out in that storm" Daphne remarked.

"Like yeah, I just hope the house doesn't get struck by lightning or something while we're here" Shaggy added.

"Don't worry about it Shaggy, I'm sure nothing is going to happen to us while we're here" Velma replied, trying to reassure her boyfriend, although considering the gang's current situation it wasn't easy; not to mention the fact that while the team of detectives walked through the main hall of the mansion, the cowardly members of the group could swear that they were being watched, which in point of fact was true; unseen to Mystery Inc. the eyes of several paintings hanging on the walls were moving back and forth and watching the gang's every move as they prepared to meet the mysterious Mr. Larson, who would tell them more about the strange mystery that they were about to encounter.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Scooby Doo, Scrappy Doo and the rest of their mystery solving friends had been walking for about five minutes when they reached a well furnished room with a sofa, recliners, several paintings hanging on the wall, a chandelier hanging from the ceiling, which looked to be quite old along with a flat screen television monitor hanging on the wall and an enclosed fireplace below it, which was crackling vibrantly; sitting in an arm chair towards the center of the room was a well dressed man who looked to be around the same age as Daphne's father, except that while the wealthy red head's father had red hair similar to Daphne's, the man that was sitting in the armchair had dark brown hair; in addition he was wearing a brown suit, which looked to have been recently cleaned, as well as brown slacks and dark brown shoes, meanwhile in another arm chair sat a woman who looked to be the same age as Daphne's mother, the woman wore a dark green dress along with dark red almost ruby colored high heeled shoes and was looking at the fireplace, coincidentally enough the man was also looking at the fireplace as both of them heard a series of footsteps coming into the room.

The hulking man that had answered the door and had let Scooby and company inside the house left the team of mystery solvers and was now moving towards the dark brown haired man in one of the armchairs; the man's footsteps echoed across throughout the room as he stepped across the wooden parquet floor towards the man in the arm chair, once he reached the armchair he stood next to the man and whispered something to him, the man in the chair then nodded and stood up; a few seconds later the man walked from his chair over to the gang and smiled, he stood proudly as he looked the six members of Mystery Inc. over and began speaking to the team of detectives as if he was good friends with them, although he was in fact meeting them for the first time.

"Hello there, you must be Mystery Incorporated or Mystery Inc. for short; I suppose you're all wondering who I am, so the least I could do is introduce myself: my name is Franklin Larson and I am the one who called the six of you to my mansion" the man remarked.

"Jeepers, then you're the friend of my father that he was talking about?" Daphne asked.

"That's right; it's wonderful to finally meet you Miss Blake, your father has told me a lot about you, your career, your friends and your love life" Mr. Larson replied, winking as he said the final part of his sentence.

"Mr. Larson, please; I don't tell anyone except my parents about my love life" Daphne declared, sounding a little embarrassed and blushing a little as she spoke.

"I'm sorry Miss Blake, I didn't mean to offend or embarrass you at all; I really should learn to mind my own business" Mr. Larson replied, offering his hand for the red head to shake it.

"That's all right Mr. Larson, although I'm quite pleased to finally meet you" Daphne said as she shook the prominent businessman's hand.

"Not a problem Miss Blake; so these must be the members of Mystery Inc. I've heard so much about, now don't tell me let me guess: that blond gentleman is Fred, that young lady with the glasses is Velma, that young man with the green shirt is Shaggy and the two canines are Scooby Doo and Scrappy Doo, how am I doing so far?" Mr. Larson asked after pointing out each of the members of the team of investigators and saying their names.

"Pretty good Mr. Larson, yep that's everybody" Daphne replied, chuckling a little bit as she spoke.

"Thank you my dear, now why don't we all sit down and I can introduce you to my wife and we can speak more about why you are all here" Mr. Larson said.

"Okay, that sounds pretty good to me, let's sit down" Fred remarked.

So the members of Mystery Inc. walked over to a nearby sofa and found places to sit down on it; Daphne and Fred as usual sat next to each other, while Velma and Shaggy sat next to each other as well, meanwhile Scooby Doo and Scrappy Doo found places to sit in front of the fireplace, which was probably a good place to be after riding in the Mystery Machine during a major thunderstorm.

"Well, now that we're all comfortable, does anyone have any questions before we start?" Mr. Larson asked.

"I'm curious about something Mr. Larson" Velma replied.

"Yes Velma?" Mr. Larson asked.

"First, why do you know our names, I mean you know Daphne because you're friends with her father but how do you know us?" Velma inquired.

"Like I said, Daphne's father told me a lot about Miss Blake, and the rest of you as well; in addition he told me a lot about your various adventures over the years, and as I said in the e-mail I sent Miss Blake, I am very impressed with your record of success" Mr. Larson replied.

"Oh, well I guess that makes sense; I was curious though about one other thing Mr. Larson" Velma commented.

"What's that?" Mr. Larson asked.

"Well, for starters who was that gentleman who opened the door to let us in?" Velma answered, realizing that if she said the wrong thing there was a good chance that he might twist one of the members of Mystery Inc. like a pretzel, and needless to say the bespectacled young woman didn't want that.

"Oh, you mean my butler Andrew; don't worry about him, he's really harmless, he just really enjoys doing his job, actually he's probably doing one of his jobs right now" Mr. Larson replied.

"What do you mean?" Fred asked.

"Well, I'm sure you brought things with you for the night, correct?" Mr. Larson answered.

"Yes we did, but if he wants to bring our luggage in, he's a bit too late because we already brought it in with us" Fred replied as he and the rest of the group showed their respective suitcases to the wealthy businessman.

"Oh I see, well no harm done; besides Andrew is probably upstairs making up your bedrooms right now anyway" Mr. Larson explained.

"That's probably a good idea; Mr. Larson, besides Andrew do you have any other people we need to know about, on the staff I mean?" Daphne asked.

"Let's see, well besides Andrew, there's my maid Dorothy, my kitchen staff, oh and the security staff, they work in a room here on the ground floor, they monitor my estate for any spies, prowlers or anything of that nature, thankfully we haven't had to worry much about those sorts of things here, yet" Mr. Larson replied.

"Like that's quite a staff Mr. Larson, anyone else we need to know about besides them?" Shaggy inquired.

"Not really, that's pretty much all the people who work for me" Mr. Larson replied.

"Mr. Larson, do you think any of the staff members might be behind all these ghosts and supernatural happenings that have occurred in the mansion?" Scrappy asked.

"No, I don't really think so; my staff wouldn't have any reason to pull anything as childish as a ghost story off, I pay them well and they like me, so why would they feel as if they had to do something like that?" Mr. Larson asked, sounding as if he had been especially hurt by the young Great Dane's comments.

"Sorry about that Mr. Larson, I didn't mean anything by it, I just thought it was possible" Scrappy replied.

"That's quite all right, I'm used to that sort of question by now" Mr. Larson said.

"By the way Mr. Larson, we noticed a small covered bridge spanning a stream on the way here; could you tell us what it is?" Daphne asked.

"Certainly Miss Blake, that bridge has actually been here for around one hundred and ten years; I guess you could tell it was pretty rickety and old when you crossed it right?" Mr. Larson inquired.

"We sure did, heck we almost fell in" Fred replied.

"I see, you know I really should get that bridge fixed, it hasn't been replaced in twenty years; by the way, as for the water: that is a small lake that runs through the property, excellent fishing and swimming when it's warmer, plus it empties into the Ohio River about a couple hundred miles away from here" Mr. Larson explained.

"Jeepers Mr. Larson, that's very impressive and very interesting as well" Daphne replied.

"Yes it is isn't it; oh I almost forgot, let me introduce you to my blushing bride: April, April these are the people I was telling you about, Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy, Scooby Doo and Scrappy Doo" Mr. Larson said; the woman who was sitting in the arm chair then smiled, got up from the chair and walked over to the sofa to shake each of the gang's hands, or in Scooby and Scrappy's case paws.

"My my, what a nice group of young people, I'm very happy to meet all of you and especially you Daphne" Mrs. Larson said as she shook Daphne's hand.

"Thank you Mrs. Larson, it was nice of the two of you to invite us here to spend the night" Daphne replied.

"Oh it was our pleasure dear, we always like having guests around here; Franklin here throws a lot of business parties and such, so most of the company we get is business associates of his, it's nice to have people other than his friends here, although I hear that your father is a friend of Franklin's?" Mrs. Larson asked.

"Yes, my dad went to school with Mr. Larson and I guess they remained friends for all this time" Daphne replied.

"They certainly did, Franklin always spoke with great admiration about George and I can see why; he's a wonderful man and he has a wonderful daughter as well" Mrs. Larson said.

"Jeepers Mrs. Larson, thank you; I'm sure my father would love to know you and Mr. Larson spoke so highly of him" Daphne replied.

"You're welcome Daphne; actually there's someone else here that you and your friends might enjoy meeting and hanging out with" Mrs. Larson remarked.

"There is?" Daphne asked.

"Yes, our daughter Kelly" Mr. Larson replied.

"You didn't mention to us that the two of you have a daughter Mr. and Mrs. Larson" Fred remarked.

"We didn't?" Mrs. Larson asked.

"No, you didn't" Fred replied, his voice raising a couple octaves as he spoke.

"Oh, well I guess I should tell you about her then: as I said her name's Kelly, she's very pretty and she's in high school, which is interesting for us because the school she attends is in Edwardsville, which you probably passed through on the way here" Mr. Larson explained.

"Like yeah, actually we did pass through Edwardsville on the way here; it's a pretty nice little town" Shaggy replied.

"Why thank you young man, we like it too" Mr. Larson said.

"Mr. Larson, we're wondering something else about you and this house; why do you live here anyway? It's kind of isolated isn't it?" Fred asked.

"Well you see I like my privacy and so do my daughter and wife, while we don't really have any neighbors, we're quite happy in this mansion and we intend to stay here for as long as possible" Mr. Larson replied.

"That makes sense Mr. Larson, I guess if I lived in the middle of nowhere I would enjoy my privacy as well" Daphne remarked.

"Thank you dear, and I'm sure you enjoy the privacy at your parents home as well" Mr. Larson noted.

"Mr. Larson, can we ask you about this house and what you made your money in? What industry I mean" Velma inquired.

"That's not a problem at all Miss Dinkley, and I can answer that: you see I run a company called Larson Communications, I founded the company and altogether the company owns around 1,200 radio stations around the country, around 30 or 40 TV stations around the US, we also have an advertising arm of the company that owns billboards in 15 major cities across America in addition we own cable companies in 5 states and newspapers in 10 states" Mr. Larson explained.

"Jeepers, that's very impressive Mr. Larson, so you made your money in the communications industry then?" Daphne asked.

"Correct, and I'm very proud of my company and our family and this house" Mr. Larson replied.

"Which reminds me Mr. Larson; I think we saw a satellite dish on your property as we drove in, is there any way that you can tell us about it?" Fred asked.

"Ah yes that, you see I like to keep track of the stations I own and what is being programmed to make sure there isn't anything offensive on any of them, or if there is something I want to do with a station or cable company I can call up the station or cable provider and tell them what I want or need, then I can see the results on the air almost instantly" Mr. Larson replied.

"Jinkies Mr. Larson, that's quite amazing; you know I'm pretty good with electronic equipment as well, maybe you can show me a few things and maybe I can help you with some things with your radio stations and the other properties you own" Velma said with an intrigued look on her face.

"I might be able to fulfill your request my dear, but not right now, maybe tomorrow; now, let's get to the reason why I called the six of you here to my mansion, as I said in my e-mail to Miss Blake my mansion is indeed haunted by numerous ghosts and other supernatural creatures, like werewolves, sea monsters, and the list goes on" Mr. Larson explained.

"Mr. Larson, how can a mansion miles away from any body of water have a sea monster?" Fred asked.

"Simple, he hides out in the mansion's pool; frankly it's getting a little annoying, considering he always tries to splash me whenever any of us go for a swim in there" Mr. Larson replied.

"Oh I see, although there's still one thing that bothers me: Mr. Larson how can you, your wife and your daughter live in a house full of ghosts and monsters and be as calm as you are?" Velma questioned.

"Well, it's not as bad as it seems my dear; actually the ghosts and hauntings started long before I moved into this house, you see all the supernatural happenings that have occurred on this estate date back to the 1800's when this mansion was built; you see the first people to live in this mansion was a wealthy industrialist and his wife, as well as their son, over the years dozens of people and their families have lived in this estate and each and every one of them have been scared off by ghosts, phantoms and monsters" Mr. Larson replied.

"Jeepers, what a creepy story; although I can see why anyone would be scared away from here, I wouldn't feel safe in a place like this, especially trying to raise a daughter" Daphne commented.

"Well let me say that I do not, nor will I ever be scared off by such silly things as ghosts or monsters; however I do have something to tell you six about the ghosts and creatures in this house, first they are quite frightening, actually if you caught sight of any of them they would be something that might be from a horror movie or a nightmare; second, they are quite dangerous and have harmed people inside this house on many occasions, in fact there is a chance that if you six were to stay here you might not live to see tomorrow, because the creatures and ghosts that inhabit this house may kill you" Mr. Larson replied.

"K-kill? As in murder?" Shaggy asked nervously.

"Yes Shaggy" Mr. Larson replied in a manner that sounded quite serious.

"Jeepers! I-I didn't know that might happen; now I don't know if I want to stay here" Daphne said as she moved closer to Fred and found herself clinging to his shoulder and arm in fear and comfort.

"Jinkies! Daphne, I agree with you, I want to live to see tomorrow, I don't want to die" Velma said, moving closer to Shaggy and clutching his arm and shoulder for protection; as Fred and Shaggy sat on the sofa they were a bit surprised by the reactions of their respective girlfriends to what Mr. Larson had told them, although being good boyfriends they knew they had to comfort the girls and keep them calm in the face of possibly something that could result in their deaths.

"Daphne, I know it sounds frightening and I know it sounds bad, but we have to remember that there are charities counting on the money that Mr. Larson will present us with when this mystery is over tomorrow morning; so therefore I know that we are going to be fine, believe me Daphne, nothing is going to happen to us, plus I'm here and Shaggy, Velma, Scooby and Scrappy are here too so you will be protected against anything that could or might happen to you" Fred said as he held Daphne's shoulders and attempted to keep her calm, although in the face of overwhelming danger and terror.

"I know Freddie, but I'm just worried that if we stay in this house we might not live to fulfill our promise to the charities, and we might not live to solve another mystery as long as we live" Daphne replied as she began to tear up a bit; the blond young adult who she has spent so much time with over the years then slowly reached up towards her face and brushed a rogue tear away that was running down her cheek.

"Daphne, I am going to make certain that nothing happens to you, if you need anything at all or need my company I'm right here, and that's not going to change ever" Fred remarked as he held up the red head's chin and smiled at her.

"Thank you Freddie, you know I really love you; I always have and I always will" Daphne replied as she and the blond young adult continued to look into each others eyes and soon enough the two detectives lips were moving closer to one another and before you could snap your fingers the two began kissing each other; clearly both of them enjoyed it as once they both finished the two of them continued smiling at each other and both of their faces became the darkest shade of red possible.

"Daphne, I-I never realized that you felt that way about me; I mean we are boyfriend and girlfriend but I never knew you…" Fred remarked, still a little embarrassed about what had happened.

"You never knew that I wanted to kiss you right?" Daphne asked.

"Well yes, but now that it's happened I really enjoyed it, thank you Daphne" Fred replied.

"You're welcome Freddie, and I wouldn't mind doing it again, if you want to that is" Daphne said.

"You bet I would Daph, maybe later okay?" Fred inquired.

"I'll be there" Daphne replied.

Meanwhile after looking over at Fred and Daphne and seeing the two of them talk about the upcoming mystery and their relationship, Shaggy knew that it was time for him to comfort Velma about the danger ahead, so the cowardly teen summoned up all the bravery he could as he turned to Velma and began speaking to her, while he held her shoulders to try and ease her fears about the mansion.

"Velma, I heard what you said earlier" Shaggy remarked.

"You mean about possibly dying in this house right?" Velma asked.

"Right; I know you're scared but it will be all right, nothing is going to happen to you" Shaggy replied.

"I know Shaggy, but talking about possibly dying it's just, well there's just so many things I want to do in my life; I'm still young and I want to continue to solve mysteries and work on experiments back home, plus I want the charities to get the money that Mr. Larson promised us and I want to, well I want to…" Velma said, almost on the verge of tears which Shaggy noticed; the bespectacled young woman then noticed Shaggy holding up her chin, ready to brush the tears away if she began crying.

"You want to what?" Shaggy asked curiously.

"I-I want to stay with you, I don't want to leave your side ever; I-I'm just afraid of what could happen to us here while we're in the mansion and the fact that we might die while we're here, it-it scares me" Velma replied in a tone of voice that was unlike anything Shaggy had ever heard, while she had always been the bravest member of Mystery Inc., this might be the first time she had ever sounded as if she might not see her friends ever again, which was apparent in her voice as Shaggy looked into her eyes.

"Velma, you know me and Scooby, we're afraid of everything, even our own shadows; heck, I'm pretty scared that we might not make it out of this place alive either, but I'm not going to let it bother me, I love you Velma, I love you a lot and I promise you this: with me here, no ghost or monster will harm a single hair on your pretty head" Shaggy said as he softly stoked Velma's cheek, sounding unlike he had ever sounded before; as a matter of fact the usually cowardly young sleuth sounded almost like Fred, like a leader, like he was the bravest member of the group instead of the most cowardly.

"Shaggy, I-I don't know what to say; I-I love you too, but I'm still unsure of what to expect while we're here, I mean what if someone or something comes into one of our bedrooms and…" Velma started to say before Shaggy held a finger up signifying for her to stop speaking; the cowardly sleuth then did the only thing he could think of to relax Velma in the face of terror, like the one she and the rest of the group were going to face, specifically he wrapped his arms around the bespectacled girl's orange sweater; at first Velma was confused by what he was doing, but realizing that Shaggy had been good at comforting her in the past, she found herself reciprocated his body movements by wrapping her arms around his waist and t-shirt, the two of them then gazed deep into each other's eyes as Shaggy began speaking once more.

"Velma, I am going to do whatever it takes to protect you while we're here, no one is going to harm you, no one is going to hurt you and to show you how serious I am about this, I'm going to do something that I've never done before, and if you don't like this then I'm sorry" Shaggy said; the cowardly teen young detective then took a deep breath and began moving his lips towards Velma's, the bespectacled teen then realized what he was doing and also moved her lips closer to his, soon the pair's lips met and they also began kissing; a few moments later the young man and the bespectacled girl's lips parted and they began smiling at each other.

"Shaggy, I-I don't know what to say; I've never had a kiss like that before, I mean guys have kissed me but nothing like that, that-that was amazing, it felt wonderful; Shaggy, I-I don't know how to say this but I really enjoyed that" Velma remarked, still blushing after Shaggy kissed her.

"Like thanks Velma, I really enjoyed it too" Shaggy replied, also blushing a little.

"Raww, rhat's ronderful" Scooby remarked with a smile on his face as he watched his friends from his spot in front of the fireplace.

"Uncle Scooby?" Scrappy asked.

"Res Rappy?" Scooby answered.

"How come Shaggy and Velma kissed? And how come Fred and Daphne kissed?" Scrappy inquired.

"Ri'll rell rou rater, rokay Rappy?" Scooby replied.

"OK Uncle Scooby, I can wait" Scrappy said with a smile on his face.

"_Besides I can't wait to find out about this"_ the young Great Dane thought to himself.

Fred and Daphne sat smiling on the sofa, as were Shaggy and Velma, while the two Great Danes of the group enjoyed just watching their human comrades; however unknown to the six sleuths, Mr. Larson, their mysterious benefactor was about to tell them some more things that would chill them, frighten them and possibly cause them to quit their current case; while he didn't show it on the outside, on the inside Mr. Larson was scheming and planning ways for the gang to cut short their visit, because Mr. Franklin Larson was not your ordinary wealthy businessman, in fact he had a sinister secret that he was hiding from the gang, one that if they were discover it would mean his ruin as far as the communications industry was concerned, and possibly his life as well.

Author's Notes: Hopefully I'm doing okay with the story so far; I'm trying to do get as close to the original and the remake of House on Haunted Hill as possible, while giving it a few twists and turns considering Scooby and company are involved; also hopefully I wrote the romance and kissing scenes okay, I've never really written kissing scenes so hopefully I did okay, if not then give me a review and tell me what I did wrong, as always thanks for reading and reviewing.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy, Scooby Doo and Scrappy Doo sat on a sofa inside the front hall of a mansion belonging to a wealthy man named Franklin Larson and his wife; the mansion was about 20 or so miles away from the small town of Edwardsville, Ohio and was also around 50 or so miles away from Mystery Inc.'s hometown of Coolsville, Ohio; on a late October evening such as this, you would think that Scooby and company would have other things to do as opposed to sitting inside a wealthy businessman's mansion while the members of the group watched a fall thunderstorm rage outside, complete with lightning, thunder and heavy rain.

However there was a very good reason for Mystery Inc. to be at Franklin Larson's mansion, and that was that they were speaking to the owner of the estate and his wife, who had told them about the mansion's colorful history as far as the supernatural and ghosts and monsters were concerned; Mr. Larson had contacted Daphne several days ago by e-mail and explained to her and the team of sleuths all about the ghosts, in addition he gave them a mystery, which was like no other mystery they had ever faced, as a matter of fact it was more then a challenge than a mystery; Mr. Larson's challenge to Mystery Inc. was this: all the team of young investigators had to do was spend a night in his mansion, and brave ghosts, ghouls and all manner of other creatures, who would try and do harm to them as he explained after the team of sleuths arrived at his estate; if they succeeded in their challenge, they would each collect a cool million dollars which would be presented to each of the six members of Mystery Inc. the next morning, that is if they survived until then.

After Fred and Shaggy reassured Daphne and Velma respectively that nothing would happen to them while they were at the Larson estate, or rather while they were inside the estate, Mr. Larson was about to inform them of even more dangers and other things that could cause them to stop with their current mystery, or might cause them to lose their lives entirely if they weren't careful.

"Well, now that we've finished with that we can continue; besides there are a few more things I need to let you six know" Mr. Larson said.

"Like what Mr. Larson?" Shaggy asked.

"Well you see, I didn't want to tell you these things before but, well you see…" Mr. Larson replied with a somewhat troubled look on his face.

"What is it Mr. Larson, what's wrong?" Fred inquired.

"Well I didn't want to say anything but, I must tell all of you that there is a chance that there is a good chance that the power might go out, because of the thunderstorm and all, if that happens there are candles, candleholders and matches in your bedrooms so if you need light, that should be sufficient for reading lights or to explore the house, and there's one other thing I need to tell you six" Mr. Larson explained.

"What is it Mr. Larson?" Daphne asked.

"I have to tell you point blank that you might need protection from the ghosts and such in this house; I know this might sound odd, but there are two .45 caliber pistols in each of the bedrooms, now I know you six don't believe in violence but some of these spirits may be vicious so I would advise you all to use them, but only if you feel threatened or need protection; I also suggest that if you have packed any weapons or anything of that nature you may want to bring them out when you get to your bedrooms" Mr. Larson replied.

"Mr. Larson, I know you are trying to protect us from anything happening but I don't think we have any use for guns" Fred remarked.

"However, like I do have a Swiss Army Knife that my dad me many years ago, but other than that I really don't believe in using weapons either" Shaggy added.

"A Swiss Army Knife? These ghosts are dangerous Shaggy, are you absolutely sure a Swiss Army Knife will be sufficient enough to deal with these, these spirits?" Mr. Larson asked, somewhat taken aback by Shaggy's statement.

"Yes, like I usually use the fork and spoon attachments for eating and that's the only weapon I carry, although it might be a weapon to the owner of a restaurant, but other than that it's like I said I don't believe in using weapons or violence" Shaggy replied, chuckling a little as he spoke.

"Young man this is a very serious manner, I wouldn't be joking about it if I were you" Mr. Larson said, standing up as he spoke and sounding very serious as well.

"Mr. Larson, I'm not joking, I'm very serious" Shaggy replied as he stood up, sounding very much like his father, who was an officer with the Coolsville Police Department for many years and who told Shaggy everything he knew about how to solve a crime and the minds and motives of criminals.

Mr. Larson knew that Shaggy wasn't kidding as he spoke to the young detective; while the businessman wanted to protect the gang, especially because he was an old friend of Daphne's father's, he knew that the cowardly teen wouldn't change his mind about carrying a weapon, so he admitted defeat and stood up from the sofa.

"Very well, but don't say I didn't warn you; now is anyone hungry at all?" Mr. Larson asked.

"Are you kidding, who can eat in a place like this?" Daphne remarked, somewhat loudly.

"I'm not very hungry either actually," Fred added.

"Like actually I'm kind of hungry, I mean it is dinner time isn't it?" Shaggy asked.

"You know you're right Shaggy, it is dinner time; actually I could use something to eat too, what about you Scooby and Scrappy?" Velma said.

"Roh roy, rood!" Scooby exclaimed.

"I guess that answers that, what about you Scrappy?" Velma inquired.

"Actually I'm a little hungry myself" Scrappy remarked.

"Good; why don't the eight of us head into the dining room and we can have some dinner, April dear would you care to join us?" Mr. Larson asked.

"Actually I would" Mrs. Larson added.

"Wonderful, now let's get going, I'm sure all of you are very hungry," Mr. Larson said.

"Like we sure are" Shaggy replied.

"I bet you are, now let's head into the dining room before it gets too late" Mr. Larson remarked as he, Mrs. Larson and the rest of the gang headed out of the living room and towards the dining room; after a few minutes the team of sleuths arrived in the dining room and sat down at a large wooden table, as did Mr. and Mrs. Larson.

Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy sat in their chairs and marveled at the elegant dining room, where there were several expensive looking paintings hanging on the walls, as well as an expensive chandelier hanging above the table; Scooby and Scrappy also marveled at their surroundings from their places underneath the table, which they didn't seem to mind too much, especially since they were going to have some dinner as well.

"Jeepers, this is some dining room; it might be nicer then the one at my house" Daphne remarked.

"I don't know Daph, I think the dining room at your house is a lot nicer" Fred replied as he looked over at Daphne and smiled.

"Thanks Freddie" Daphne said as she looked back over at Fred, smiling as she spoke.

"Mr. Larson, mind if I ask you something?" Shaggy inquired.

"Certainly Shaggy" Mr. Larson replied.

"OK, well I just wanted to know if your daughter will be joining us for dinner?" Shaggy asked.

"Well, no actually; you see she's busy studying, although you'll probably meet her later, considering she usually eats dinner later in the evening" Mr. Larson replied.

"Oh, OK; she sounds like a nice girl and I wouldn't mind meeting her and talking to her" Shaggy said.

"Oh I'm sure you'll like her, she is a wonderful daughter" Mr. Larson replied.

"I bet she is" Shaggy remarked.

Velma, Shaggy, Scooby and Scrappy as well as Mr. and Mrs. Larson soon were joined in the elegant dining room by several men and women in chefs outfits; the team of sleuths figured that these people must be members of the kitchen staff of the mansion, a fact which was made clearer when the men and woman began placing several dishes filled with appetizers, salads and main dishes on the table for the team of sleuths to sample; once the table was filled with enough dishes for a full meal, the gang along with Mr. and Mrs. Larson, began eating.

The meal was quite sumptuous and quite filling, as Scooby and company had finished and were full in the span of about twenty minutes; while they weren't hungry earlier, Fred and Daphne had decided to sample some of the foods available and once they finished with their meals they were quite happy they did, as they enjoyed the meal greatly.

Once dinner and dessert was finished, the mansion's kitchen staff cleared the table and the members of Mystery Inc. left the dining room for the main living room of the house; Mr. and Mrs. Larson then left the living room along with Scooby and company, the wealthy businessman and his wife then showed the gang to their bedrooms, which were in the upper portion of the house, up a flight of stairs; Mr. Larson then showed Fred, Shaggy and Scooby to their bedroom which was what the gang expected it to be, mainly a couple of beds, a television set, a closet, a chest of drawers and other items that one would usually find inside a mansion.

Meanwhile Mrs. Larson showed Daphne, Velma and Scrappy to their bedroom, which was about the same as the guys bedroom, except that it was a little more upscale then Fred, Shaggy and Scooby's room; both rooms however were big enough that they had restrooms which made each member of the gang very happy, just in case they needed to use it later, of course having your own bathroom meant that you wouldn't have to venture outside of the bedrooms for any reason, except meals, which also made the members of Mystery Inc. happy, considering what could happen to them if they left their bedrooms.

Inside each of their bedrooms the six members of the team of investigators were putting away their respective clothes, luggage and everything else that they brought with them; once that was finished, the members of Mystery Inc. decided to explore their respective bedrooms, just in case there was anything a little off about the rooms, or just in case they needed something for any reason.

In Daphne, Velma and Scrappy's bedroom the red-haired member of the group was looking around through the various drawers in a nightstand located next to the bed that she was going to sleep in once she decided to go to sleep that is; however at the moment she was searching through the drawers and was making sure everything that should be there was in the drawers, soon she decided to look through the top drawer of the nightstand and located something that felt like wax in addition to something that felt small, Velma and Scrappy were curious as to what Daphne had found and asked her about it.

"What's up Daphne?" Velma inquired.

"Yeah Daphne, what did you find?" Scrappy added.

"Well, I'm not sure but I think I found the candles and matches that Mr. Larson was talking about" Daphne said.

"That's good; besides judging by the weather outside and the weather while we were driving her we might need the candles sooner then we think" Velma replied.

With that the red head then continued looking through the drawers, a few moments later she looked through the drawer below the one that contained the candles and matches; inside the drawer she felt something metal, although she couldn't figure out what it was, knowing she might need to know what this object was and what it's purpose was she took it out of the drawer and brought it out so that Velma and Scrappy could see it, however the young woman and the young Great Dane didn't like what they saw when she brought it out.

"Jinkies! D-Daphne, that's, that's one of the pistols that Mr. Larson was talking about!" Velma exclaimed, both in shock and in astonishment.

"It is?" Daphne asked, unsure of what to make of Velma's statement.

"Velma's right Daphne, that is a pistol; believe me when I was a police dog I saw a lot of them, as evidence" Scrappy added.

"Jeepers!" Daphne said as she quickly put the pistol back in the drawer, making sure it wouldn't go off accidentally.

"Phew, am I glad I put that thing inside the drawer before it was too late; even though I held that gun for a few seconds it felt horrible, I just hope my fingerprints aren't on it" the red head added, her hands shaking as she spoke.

"Don't worry Daphne, assuming nothing happens here tonight there's a good chance that you won't have to worry about fingerprints" Velma commented.

"Although, you did have the fingerprints on the gun for a few seconds" Scrappy added.

"Jeepers!" Daphne exclaimed in horror.

"Let me finish, even though the fingerprints were on there for a few seconds, there's a good chance that evidence wouldn't hurt you if you were accused of a crime" Scrappy replied.

"Oh thanks I feel a whole better now" Daphne said as he face became slightly drained of color; she then felt slightly woozy and decided to sit down on her bed.

"Scrappy, where exactly did you learn all that about police procedure anyway?" Velma asked.

"Well, you see I picked up quite a lot from the officers that I worked with, plus a lot of lawyers hung out around the police station as well, so I kind of picked that stuff up too" Scrappy replied.

"Oh; you know actually that's pretty cool Scrappy and it might come in handy some day" Velma remarked.

"Really?" Scrappy asked.

"Sure, you never know when you might need to use that kind of knowledge, heck it might come in handy during a future mystery" Velma replied.

"Thanks Velma" Scrappy said, smiling at the bespectacled teen.

While Velma, Daphne and Scrappy were talking and discussing police procedures, Fred, Shaggy and Scooby were putting away their clothing and luggage, although they hadn't found the matches and candles, or for that matter the pistols that Mr. Larson had put in their bedroom, however for the moment they wouldn't need them, although in the line of work that Mystery Inc. was in you never know when one of them might need something like a pistol.

At the moment Fred and Shaggy were sitting on their respective beds, discussing their relationships with Daphne and Velma respectively, the current case that they were on, and the weather, among other things; however their discussion was interrupted by a knock at their door, it seemed somewhat urgent as the knocking seemed to be quicker and more urgent than a person's usual knock, finally after a few minutes of hearing someone trying to get their attention Fred finally decided to get up from the bed and open the door.

When he opened the door though he was very surprised to see a young blonde haired woman possibly in her late teens or early twenties wearing a dark blue long sleeve shirt, red pants and white shoes; the woman seemed to be troubled by something and she showed it in a somewhat unusual way by stepping inside the room and hugging Fred, who was quite surprised by this occurrence to say the least.

"Oh thank heavens you're here," the young woman said somewhat eagerly.

"Um can we help you miss?" Fred asked, still confused as to who this young woman was and why she was hugging the blond young adult.

"I'm sorry, I guess I should introduce myself; my name is Kelly Larson" the woman replied.

"Kelly? Then like you're Mr. and Mrs. Larson's daughter" Shaggy said; although as soon as Shaggy spoke he instantly regretted his statement, because right after he spoke Kelly Larson ran over to him and started to hug him.

"Yes, I am and I'm so glad the two of you are here" Kelly replied.

"Rhat about re?" Scooby asked.

"Oh, I'm sorry Scooby, I'm really glad you're here too" Kelly said, smiling at Scooby Doo as she spoke.

"Like now that we know who you are, could you please tell us what you're doing in our bedroom?" Shaggy asked.

"Yes, and why do you know about us?" Fred added.

"Well, I happen to be a big fan of all six of you, including Daphne and Velma; Daphne's so pretty, I mean I've always wanted to be like her, and Velma's so smart, I study as much as possible for my classes at school so I can be just like her" Kelly replied.

"Really?" Shaggy asked.

"Absolutely, I've been following your careers ever since I was little; I know everything about all of you and your scariest cases, like Moonscar Island, the Black Knight, the Headless Horseman and so many others" Kelly replied, while she hung on to Shaggy's arm, although he was a little confused as to why she was being so affectionate.

"Well Miss Larson, I'm uh very flattered but I have a girlfriend" Shaggy said, trying to pull away from Kelly's grasp.

"And I have a girlfriend as well Miss Larson, but thank you for being such a big fan of ours" Fred replied.

"Oh I don't mind, maybe you can have a second girlfriend Shaggy" Kelly said as she smiled at the cowardly teen.

"Um I don't think Velma would like that very much" Shaggy replied.

"Reah, rhe ron't re rery rappy" Scooby said, chuckling a little as she spoke.

"Scooby I wouldn't be laughing if I were you; remember I buy most of your Scooby Snacks" Shaggy replied.

"Rorry Rhaggy" Scooby said with his head hung low.

"That's okay Scoob, now Miss Larson" Shaggy remarked.

"Call me Kelly" the young woman replied.

"OK, Kelly; can you tell us what you're doing in our bedroom?" Shaggy asked.

"Well, I happened to be looking over dad's shoulder when he wrote the e-mail to Daphne" Kelly said.

"And?" Shaggy inquired.

"After he sent the e-mail off he started chuckling to himself, then he wrote some things down and then he left the room; after he left the room I happened to look at what he wrote down and you three aren't going to believe this" Kelly explained.

"Believe what?" Fred asked.

"My dad, my dad is going to-to kill my mom and I, and then he's going to try and kill all of you!" Kelly replied, almost screaming the last portion of what she said.

"What?" Fred wondered with a confused look on his face.

"I'm serious, he's going to kill all of you!" Kelly replied, beginning to cry after she finished speaking.

"Give me a break Miss Larson; he told us that his house was haunted and that he was going to give us a million dollars each for spending the night here" Fred said, trying to figure out what was going on inside the ancient mansion.

"All fake, he made up the ghost stories and haunting stories, and I can prove it" Kelly replied.

"But like why would he make up something like that and why would he bring us here in the first place?" Shaggy asked.

"I don't know, but I can tell you why he brought all of you here; my father is, well how do I put this gently… he's not well, he's obsessed with the ideas of ghosts and monsters killing people, in fact if things keep going the way they're going we might have to put him in a mental institute for his own protection" Kelly replied as she put her head on Shaggy's shoulder and began crying once again.

"Kelly, uh Miss Larson, please take it easy; Fred, myself and the rest of us talked to him when we arrived and he told us about every thing that we needed to know about this house, like the ghosts, monsters and such, and I don't think he mentioned that he was going to anything like murdering you and Mrs. Larson" Shaggy said, still trying to pull away from Kelly's grasp, although it was clear to him that she wasn't going to let go that easily; so Shaggy relented and let the blonde haired young woman hang onto his shoulder, while secretly wishing that Velma or Daphne didn't walk into their bedroom and see what was going on, especially Velma.

"Well he wouldn't come right out and tell you that he was going to kill us, he would be secretive and he would hide things to throw suspicion off himself" Kelly remarked.

"Miss Larson, have you been talking to Scrappy Doo?" Fred asked.

"No why?" Kelly answered.

"No reason, although he knows a lot about police procedure and crime and things like that" Fred replied.

"That's good; then he could help me if and when my father tries to, well I don't want to think about it" Kelly said, tearing up once again.

"Miss Larson, this is ridiculous; get a hold of yourself!" Shaggy replied with a bit of a raised tone of voice as he held the young woman's shoulders and attempted to calm her down.

"I-I'm sorry Shaggy, I didn't mean to act so-so…" Kelly remarked.

"Crazy?" Fred chimed in.

"That's it; I just didn't mean to act like a weeping widow or anything like that, I mean I am only 18 after all" Kelly commented.

"It's no problem at all Miss Larson; now, as for your dad murdering you and your mother, I doubt that's actually going to happen" Fred remarked.

"But what if it does? Or what if you, what if you don't survive the night here?" Kelly said as she began crying once again; naturally because Shaggy felt bad for the young woman, the cowardly young sleuth let the blonde woman hang onto his arm and cry on his shoulder.

"Roh rother" Scooby commented under his breath.

"I second that Scooby" Fred replied, as by this time he had walked over and stood next to the Great Dane and was softly petting him.

"Shaggy, I've been a huge fan of you and your friends for years, and now you're here in my house; so please, for me Shaggy, make sure my father doesn't do anything to harm my mother and I, or any of you" Kelly said as she looked up into the cowardly young man's eyes; even though Shaggy did have a girlfriend in Velma, he couldn't help but feel sorry for the young woman, because when he looked in her eyes he saw fear and helplessness, in fact in her he saw some of what made him fall in love with Velma and even though he was in love with a girl already, he knew he had to say something to keep her calm and to make sure she wouldn't end up dying, so he tried to figure out something that would give her piece of mind while she slept.

"Kelly, I don't know quite what to say here" Shaggy said, scratching the back of his head as he spoke.

"Then say you and your friends will protect my mom and I please?" Kelly pleaded as she continued to look into Shaggy's eyes; the cowardly sleuth smiled at her, as he had come up with exactly what he wanted to say to the young woman.

"Kelly, I will do whatever it takes to keep you and your mom safe; like I won't let anything happen to you while I'm here" Shaggy replied.

"Oh thank you Shaggy, thank you!" Kelly declared as she hugged Shaggy and then kissed him on the cheek.

"It was my pleasure Miss Larson" Shaggy replied.

"Now, if you and your friends need to come find me I'll be in my bedroom; it's right down the hall from here, you can't miss it" Kelly remarked.

"OK, if anything happens, we'll come get you" Shaggy replied.

"Terrific, thank you again, all of you; but especially you Shaggy, bye" Kelly said as she kissed Shaggy's cheek once again; the blonde haired young woman then walked towards the door, opened it and walked into the hallway back towards her bedroom, once the young woman closed the door, Shaggy, Fred and Scooby were left with their own thoughts once again.

"Like she was, pretty interesting wasn't she Fred?" Shaggy asked as he walked over to his bed and sat down on it.

"I don't know if I would say that Shaggy, it seemed more to me that she was obsessed" Fred replied as he walked over and sat down on his bed.

"Obsessed with what?" Shaggy inquired.

"Well for starters she was all over you, even we you told her that you and Velma are a couple" Fred replied.

"Yeah no kidding; I thought she was going to drench my shirt in tears or something, like plus when she was hanging onto my arm I thought she was going to break it, she just wouldn't let go" Shaggy noted.

"Well Shaggy, that's what girls do when they're trying to get your attention, or when they're in love with you" Fred commented.

"But Fred, I'm already in love with Velma, what was I supposed to say to her? That I would love to help her, but my girlfriend would kill me?" Shaggy said sounding more confused then he usually was.

"I know Shaggy, and I'm in love with Daphne, but I was in the same boat as you were; she needed help, and neither of us could turn her down" Fred replied.

"Right, because our primary job as detectives is to help people, no matter whether they be male or female, no matter how old or young they are or whatever their background may be, if someone is in danger or needs assistance, we have to help them, even, even if the person is a girl and even if we have girlfriends and the person wants to get our attention the way she did" Shaggy said.

"Very well put Shaggy, you know I never thought I would see the day that you would start making as much sense as I do during mysteries" Fred replied.

"Like thanks Fred" Shaggy remarked.

"I really mean it, you never were like this when we were teens in high school; back then you would always run away and hide or eat, although you were always useful in solving mysteries, heck you would even come up with important clues to our cases" Fred replied.

"Like I know Fred, but that was then and this is now; I'm in love with Velma, and I have a day job running a restaurant, it keeps me busy, so I don't have time to be scared and nervous, or to hide from danger, heck I have to be brave and think like a detective, and think like a businessman" Shaggy commented.

"Shaggy, that makes a lot of sense, in fact its probably the most rational thing you've said in a long time" Fred replied.

"Like that means a lot coming from you Fred; you know, Scooby's always been my pet and best friend and Velma's my girlfriend, but you've always been like a brother to me, I mean I was an only child after all so you're like the brother I never had" Shaggy said.

"You know something Shaggy, I may have had an older brother but he's nothing like you; you were always a really cool guy, and would always cheer me up when I was down, and that means a lot to me Shag" Fred replied.

"It was no problem Fred, I'm always glad to help; you've always been a really cool friend to me and it was only right of me to be the same kind of a friend to you that you were to me" Shaggy remarked.

"You're welcome Shaggy; now back to this mystery for a second, I was thinking that just in case something does happen during the night, we should have someone stand guard outside the door" Fred replied.

"Exactly what I was thinking Fred, but who are we going to get to stand guard?" Shaggy wondered out loud.

Fred and Shaggy then looked around the room, until their eyes focused on a certain Great Dane who was resting at the very foot of Shaggy's bed; the Great Dane noticed out of the corner of his eye that Fred and Shaggy were looking at him and assumed the worst, mainly that the two of them wanted him to stand guard, so he did the only thing he could do and that was to speak up.

"Roh no, ri'm rot roing to rand ruard, ro ray, rot re" Scooby remarked after he stood up and folded his arms.

"Aw come on Scoob, you have to stand guard" Shaggy replied.

"Rhy? Rhy re?" Scooby asked as he began shaking his head.

"Because Scooby, Shaggy and I need our sleep and you're the only other option so I guess you're it" Fred remarked.

"Roh, rokay ri ruess I rould, rif I rave to, ri rhave to" Scooby replied, although he began whimpering as he spoke.

"Don't worry Scoob, you'll be okay" Shaggy said as he had gotten out of his bed, walked over to the Great Dane and was now softly petting his cowardly canine companion.

"Shaggy's right Scooby, besides Shaggy and I will be in our bedroom, and Daphne, Velma and Scrappy are nearby too, so just try and take it easy Scooby old buddy, and try not to worry about having to stand guard, just think of happy things okay?" Fred remarked as he had also gotten out of his bed and had walked over to Scooby by this point, and had begun to softly pet the Great Dane as well.

"Rell rokay, rhanks ruys" Scooby replied with a smile on his face.

"No problem Scooby, and you know something, like the saying is sure true in your case: you really are man's best friend" Shaggy said.

"Raw, rhucks" Scooby replied as he started to blush a little.

"Well what do you know, I think old Scoob's blushing" Fred remarked.

"Like yeah, he is isn't he?" Shaggy added, while at the same time Scooby began chuckling.

"OK, OK, let's cut the clowning and get some sleep," Fred stated.

"Right, besides if there really are ghosts here then we'll need as much sleep as we can get" Shaggy replied.

"Ri ruess rhat reans ri rave to rand ruard row right?" Scooby asked.

"Sure does, see you later Scooby and don't worry, I doubt anything's going to happen while we're here" Fred remarked as he and Shaggy walked over towards their respective beds and climbed into them.

"Like I hope so Fred I hope so" Shaggy replied.

"Don't worry Shaggy, if anything does happen Scooby can alert us and we'll rush into action; although something tells me we won't have to worry about anything other than ghosts and ghouls" Fred said; while Fred spoke, the cowardly Great Dane of the group stood at the door and opened it(he had always been pretty intelligent for a Great Dane), the canine then walked outside the door and closed it behind him, before he took his position outside the door in the hallway.

While Scooby stood guard, Fred and Shaggy drifted off to in their bedroom; next door, Daphne, Velma and Scrappy also drifted off to dreamland, in addition in their bedroom Mr. and Mrs. Larson slept safely and soundly, and in her bedroom Kelly Larson also drifted off to sleep, albeit uneasily because she was still afraid for her and Mrs. Larson's safety; all throughout the house the members of Mystery Inc. and the members of the Larson family slept soundly and comfortably, hoping that none of them would have to confront any supernatural creatures or being murdered during the night, however as usually happened during Mystery Inc.'s cases, inevitably the team of young adult and canine sleuths would have to face the forces of the paranormal, which were gathering as the detectives slept.

Author's Notes: Hopefully everyone is enjoying the story so far; I hope I wrote the romance scenes the right way, also I hope everyone likes the scene between Shaggy and the Larsons' daughter, needless to say she was a bit eager to see Shaggy Any who, for those of you who are wondering or are looking forward to the horror part of the story, it's coming in the last dozen chapters. Also, I wasn't sure about the mentions of murder or the weapons thing because I've never written anything like that and nothing like that usually has ever been seen or heard in Scooby Doo episodes or movies over the years, also thanks to everyone for reading and reviewing as usual.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Fred, Shaggy, Velma, Daphne and Scrappy Doo along with Mr. and Mrs. Larson and their daughter Kelly were all tucked away in their respective beds, while Scooby Doo attempted to stay awake as he kept a close watch on all who were in the upstairs hallway and all who were inside the house; the mansion belonging to Mr. Franklin Larson, his wife April and their daughter Kelly was relatively quiet, for the moment, however the stillness of the October night was about to be broken by an unearthly and possibly supernatural noise, in fact the noise was so loud it could possibly be heard throughout the state of Ohio.

"Ahh!" a female voice shrieked somewhere in the mansion; the loud, shrill noise caused Scooby to yelp and began scratching at Fred and Shaggy's bedroom, the cowardly teen heard both Scooby's yelp and the scream and quickly tossed away his blanket, Fred also woke up rather quickly and tossed his blanket onto the floor after seeing Shaggy do it, figuring that something was wrong; Fred and Shaggy then rushed into the hallway and collected Scooby who had a terrified look on his face.

"Scooby, was that you?" Shaggy asked.

"Rhat do rou rean Rhaggy?" Scooby inquired.

"What I mean is was that you yelping?" Shaggy questioned.

"Reah, rit ras" Scooby replied.

"Well that answers that" Shaggy remarked.

"What I don't understand is why you yelped Scooby" Fred commented.

"Ri reard romeone reaming" Scooby replied.

"You heard someone screaming?" Shaggy asked.

"Ruh-huh" Scooby responded, while nodding his head.

"Yeah, Shaggy and I heard it too; only question is who screamed and why?" Fred wondered out loud, scratching his head as he spoke.

"Like you know, come to think of it, the scream sounded almost like a woman" Shaggy replied.

"Yeah, it sounded that way to me too, I wonder…" Fred commented.

"Wonder what Fred?" Shaggy asked.

"I wonder if… oh no!" Fred declared, with a look of horror on his face.

"Zoinks! You mean the scream came from the girls room?" Shaggy asked, as his face now had the same expression as Fred's, mainly an expression of terror.

"Right, something must be wrong, come on Shaggy and Scooby, let's go!" Fred declared; the blond detective, the cowardly young adult and the Great Dane hurried next door as Fred began pounding like a mad man on the door of Daphne, Velma and Scrappy's room.

However unknown to the three of them, Daphne, Velma and Scrappy had already heard the scream and were sitting up in their beds, well Daphne and Velma were while the young Great Dane continued to sit at the foot of Daphne's bed; hearing Fred pound on the door, the two female sleuths rushed out of their beds and opened the door, where they found Fred, Shaggy and Scooby standing in the doorway looking relieved to see that the girls and Scrappy Doo were all right and unharmed.

"Daphne!" Fred exclaimed as he hugged Daphne and refused to let go of her no matter what, even though she wanted the blond young adult to let go of her.

"Velma!" Shaggy exclaimed as he hugged Velma in exactly the same fashion that Fred had hugged Daphne in, while Scooby reunited with Scrappy as the two of them watched their friends respective embraces.

"Oh Daphne, I'm so glad to see you're okay, what happened?" Fred asked, still hanging onto Daphne like what an affectionate puppy would do with his master.

"Yeah Velma, what in the world's going on? I mean Fred, Scooby and I heard what sounded like a woman screaming and we thought, we thought…" Shaggy said, starting to tear up; the bespectacled young woman realized what was going on and let Shaggy cry into her orange sweater, which she was still wearing to bed.

"It's all right Shaggy, it's okay; now what did you think was going on?" Velma asked.

"Well, when I heard that scream, I thought it was you screaming; I thought you were in trouble" Shaggy replied.

"Yeah and I thought that you were in trouble too Daphne, when I heard that scream I thought that, well I thought that it was you screaming" Fred remarked, as he continued to hang onto Daphne's shoulder.

"Freddie, I'm very touched that you would think that but, I wasn't the one who screamed, in fact I heard the scream when it happened" Daphne replied.

"Yeah, and I heard it too; although I'm very touched that you ran in here to check on me Shaggy" Velma said as she kissed the young man's cheek.

"Thanks Velma, I'm just so glad you aren't in any danger" Shaggy remarked.

"I heard it too, I thought it was Daphne or Velma also, but since it's not them…" Scrappy added.

"Hmm… then that would mean it could be one of the Larsons" Velma remarked.

"It's certainly possible Velma, come on let's go see" Fred commented.

With that Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy, Scooby and Scrappy headed for the staircase, hoping to avoid finding a ghost, or phantom, or worse; after quickly walking down the staircase, the team of sleuths walked down the downstairs corridor containing Mr. and Mrs. Larson's bedroom, soon they found themselves in front of the couple's bedroom door and a few seconds later Fred opened the door and the gang walked into the bedroom.

Once inside they saw a large queen size bed, but only one person on it; in this case Mystery Inc. saw Mr. Larson sitting up on the edge of the bed, he also looked to be crying about something, in addition to that Mystery Inc. saw that one Mrs. Larson was nowhere to be found, so the team of detectives started asking questions as to what was going on.

"Mr. Larson?" Fred inquired.

"Yes, what is it?" Mr. Larson replied in a somewhat impatient tone of voice, although when he saw Scooby Doo and friends in room, he perked up slightly.

"Oh, it's you six; you know I'm glad you're all here, because you can help me figure out what happened to my wife" Mr. Larson added.

"Like I was wondering that myself" Shaggy remarked.

"Yeah, we heard the sound of someone screaming when we were in our respective bedrooms and we didn't know who was making the noise" Velma replied.

"Well I guess now you know who was screaming, it was undoubtedly my wife" Mr. Larson said, looking fairly serious as he sat on the bed; Scooby and company could tell the wealthy businessman was upset, so the blond unofficial leader of Mystery Inc. decided to see if he could do something about his current situation.

"Mr. Larson, can you tell us what happened? For example: where were you when Mrs. Larson screamed?" Fred asked, as by this time he was sitting on the bed next to Mr. Larson.

"For starters, I was not in the room when whatever happened to my wife happened; I felt thirsty and I decided to go down to the kitchen for some water, and then as a result of drinking the water, I had to go to the bathroom" Mr. Larson explained.

"Okay, and then when you came back Mrs. Larson had disappeared?" Fred questioned.

"Yes, isn't that what I just said?" Mr. Larson replied with a question of his own.

"True, you did say that" Fred remarked.

"Like Mr. Larson, one thing puzzles me: how did you go downstairs, get a drink of water, then go use the bathroom, all the while Mrs. Larson was probably being kidnapped?" Shaggy asked.

"Well Mr. Rogers, I can tell you I did all those things because I walked all that distance" Mr. Larson replied, although while he spoke Shaggy cringed at the wealthy man calling him by his last name, which usually meant he was in trouble, or at least that's what usually happened to him when his parents called him by just his last name.

"Hmm, something's starting to sound fishy here," Velma whispered in Shaggy's ear.

"Like yeah, I don't think he spent that time going to the bathroom and drinking water either" Shaggy replied, whispering in Velma's ear.

"Mr. Larson, are you absolutely sure that something happened to Mrs. Larson?" Fred asked.

"Excuse me?" Mr. Larson replied, while his voice raised a few octaves as he spoke.

"Well, it's certainly possible that Mrs. Larson may have gotten up and taken a walk or gotten some water too" Daphne added.

"Mr. Jones and Miss Blake, I am telling you that my wife is missing, now if you don't believe me you and your friends can all leave!" Mr. Larson replied, almost yelling as he spoke.

"I don't think so Mr. Larson, in fact I think we should look for clues in here," Fred explained.

"Right Fred" Daphne replied.

"Come on gang, let's take a good look around here and see what we can find" Fred remarked.

With that Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy, Scooby and Scrappy began combing through the room, attempting to find some semblance of a clue as to the disappearance of April Larson; Mystery Inc. searched through every nook and cranny of the Larsons bedroom, but were quite stumped when they realized that they could not find a single clue as to the woman's disappearance, so the members of the detective agency decided to get into a small huddle to try and regroup before they continued searching.

"I don't get it, we haven't found a single thing; there's no clues anywhere in this room" Fred remarked.

"Yeah, there's no signs of a struggle or distress, no weapon, anything, frankly I'm stumped" Scrappy commented.

"Well like we think we know that Mrs. Larson disappeared, but yet we can't find any sign of blood or anything that would tell us what really happened to her," Shaggy replied.

"Hmm… one thing puzzles me though," Velma said, with a somewhat quizzical look on her face.

"What's that Vel?" Shaggy asked.

"Well Shaggy, we know that something happened to her and we know she's missing; so therefore, whoever or whatever did this was able to cover up things really well, so we wouldn't be able to find a single clue as to Mrs. Larson's disappearance" Velma replied.

"True, but like how do we find Mrs. Larson, I mean if there aren't any clues as to her disappearance?" Shaggy inquired.

"Simple Shaggy, we cover every inch of the mansion for any sign of Mrs. Larson until we find her" Fred replied.

"Like right, I j-just hope there really aren't any ghosts here" Shaggy said nervously.

"Don't worry Shaggy, I seriously doubt there isn't anything even close to supernatural here" Fred replied.

"I j-just hope you're right Fred" Shaggy remarked, still somewhat nervous.

Having discussed their plan of action as far as investigating Mr. Larson's bedroom, the gang broke their huddle and began speaking to the mysterious millionaire once again.

"Mr. Larson, we're going to agree with you on this; we all talked and we think something did indeed happen to your wife" Fred explained.

"Well, I'm very glad that I you agree with me; so I'm guessing that you'll stay and investigate my wife's disappearance?" Mr. Larson asked, having calmed down a little by now.

"Yes, like we'll assist you in searching for your wife" Shaggy replied.

"Ah, excellent" Mr. Larson remarked.

"Now, what we usually do when we have a mystery Mr. Larson is that we split up, and this one is no different" Fred explained.

"Fred, what is the purpose of you and your friends splitting up to search for my wife?" Mr. Larson inquired.

"Well, it's pretty simple; we usually split up to cover more ground, that way we're able to find more clues then if we were all together" Fred replied.

"Makes sense to me" Mr. Larson remarked.

"It always makes sense to us Mr. Larson, so we're glad you agree with our methods; now, here's what we'll do: Velma, you and Shaggy search the upstairs portion of the house, check every single room and be very careful, because whoever or whatever absconded with Mrs. Larson is probably still in the house, Scooby, you and Scrappy search the outside of the house, check the grounds, the garden, everything, and Daphne and I will check the downstairs, okay?" Fred explained.

"Right" the rest of the gang replied in unison.

"I just hope that you six can find the fiend responsible for my wife's disappearance; she, she means everything in the world to me and I don't know what I would do without her" Mr. Larson said as he began crying; Daphne and Velma noticed this, and both of them walked over to the wealthy businessman to attempt to comfort him.

"Don't worry Mr. Larson, we'll find Mrs. Larson for you, I guarantee it" Velma remarked.

"Right Mr. Larson, if there's anyone that can find her, we can" Daphne added.

"Thank you, both of you and all of you as well, I just hope you can find her before it's too late" Mr. Larson said as he sat back on the bed.

"We will Mr. Larson, we will" Scrappy replied.

With that Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy, Scooby and Scrappy walked out of the bedroom and closer the door behind them, leaving Franklin Larson alone; while the members of Mystery Inc. began making their way through the upstairs corridor, Mr. Larson was about to receive a visitor, although it wasn't going to be as friendly as the members of Mystery Inc.

Mr. Larson sat on his bed, continuing to tear up a bit over the disappearance of his wife; he was also clutching a .45 caliber pistol that he had hidden underneath the pillow in case any ghosts were to visit he or his wife during the night, however as he sat on the bed and as he clutched the revolver in his hands, he had a nervous look on his face and his hands were trembling so much that while he held the pistol, he hoped that he wouldn't have to use it, because if he did, he might not be able to fire it properly, considering he was a nervous wreck.

"I k-know what's happening in this house, the g-g-ghosts are c-c-coming for me, they k-know I've told those young people about their presence, and they want to…" Mr. Larson said nervously, as his hands trembled and shook as he spoke, before he gulped loudly.

Suddenly an eerie wind began blowing through the bedroom, as the wealthy businessman sat on the bed he could feel the cold, drafty wind whipping through the bedroom; Mr. Larson then began hearing what sounded like the music of an organ playing, however as he sat nervously on his bed, he couldn't figure out where the wind or music was coming from; he then got up from his bed and checked the door of the room, as well as his window and closet, when he realized that he couldn't find the source of the wind or organ music, he sat back on his bed.

"Good heavens, these ghosts are torturing me, they-they're trying to send me a sign, some kind of sign, but what kind of sign? Are they saying that my wife is alive, or are they trying to warn me?" Mr. Larson thought aloud.

A few moments later, the mysterious wind picked up once again and began blowing through the room; once more he felt the icy grasp of the wind blowing into his face, and once again he began thinking, but this time he decided not to wait for the ghosts of the house to come for him and possibly make him join his wife, wherever she was; it was then and there Franklin Larson made a snap decision: he decided to leave the bedroom and call the police, before it was too late, however as he ran to the door to open it, he found that it was closed and locked.

"No! I can't understand it, why is the door locked? Miss Blake and her friends couldn't have locked it, they left the door unlocked and they knew that I might need to leave the room once more, so why did they lock the room?" Mr. Larson asked as he pulled on the door as much as he could, however it was not budging at all and he decided to give up and sat back on the bed.

Franklin Larson sat on the bed that he and his wife shared ever since they were married, deep in thought, trying to figure out someway, somehow to escape for lack of a better word his bedroom, which had become a tomb and was possibly going to be his final resting place, if he didn't figure out a way to leave the bedroom immediately; however, he wasn't going to get a chance to leave because as he sat on the bed, he could see a dark, almost shadowy figure appearing in the doorway of the bedroom, the figure slowly approached him, not making a sound as he walked across the floor; Mr. Larson trembled and shook once again as he watched the figure step closer and closer to him.

"Wh-who, or what are you?" Mr. Larson asked nervously.

The figure didn't answer as it moved closer and closer to the bed and the nervous shape of Mr. Larson; as he watched the figure cloaked entirely in darkness move closer and closer to him, he realized that there was no way out, no way of avoiding his fate that was to come at the hands of the ghastly figure; a few moments later the figure was now standing at the foot of the wealthy businessman's bed, the dark figure then walked around the bedpost, reached down and grabbed Mr. Larson's face; Franklin Larson struggled and struggled to escape the grasp of the dark figure, but failed miserably, in fact he tried to scream to alert the members of Mystery Inc. as to what was happening, but because the figure clamped his hand on the wealthy man's mouth, he wasn't able to produce a single sound; suddenly a strange gray mist began forming around the pair, Mr. Larson watched the mist develop and within a few moments the mist had fully covered the wealthy man and his captor, and a few seconds later there was a puff of gray smoke, when the smoke disappeared however, both Mr. Franklin Larson and the strange figure vanished without a trace.

Now the mystery was getting even stranger, unknown to Scooby and company who were searching throughout the house for clues; Franklin Larson and April Larson had both disappeared, abducted undoubtedly by the same dark figure, now two people were missing and if Scooby Doo and company weren't careful, someone could kidnap any one of them, or for that matter Kelly Larson, who was sleeping safely and soundly in her bedroom, unaware that her parents were missing and the members of Mystery Inc. were still in danger, both from the ghosts and from the figure that absconded with her parents.

Author's Notes: Hopefully I'm still doing okay with my writing, I wasn't sure how to write the kidnapping parts; thanks to everyone for reading and reviewing, I'm really enjoying writing this story and I really appreciate all the reviews I get, thanks for all your time.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

The cowardly Great Dane named Scooby Doo and the rest of his young adult mystery solving friends found themselves embroiled in yet another bizarre mystery; so far, Daphne Blake had received an e-mail from a friend of her father's: a wealthy businessman named Franklin Larson, who lived in a haunted mansion about 50 miles away from the gang's hometown of Coolsville, Ohio, after meeting the gang and having dinner, each of the members of Mystery Inc. as well as the three members of the Larson family headed off to bed; while Mystery Inc. slept, a horrible scream was heard, and Mystery Inc. went to investigate, after making the conclusion that the scream came from the Larsons bedroom, Mr. Larson told the team of detectives that his wife had disappeared.

After consulting with Franklin Larson, the gang left the room and began their investigation; however, while they embarked on their investigation a strange malevolent figure entered Mr. and Mrs. Larson's bedroom, approached the wealthy businessman's bed and abducted him, of course Scooby Doo and his mystery solving associates didn't know that he had been kidnapped and assumed that he was still waiting for the gang to come back to report on how their investigation was going.

All the while Kelly Larson, the young daughter of the wealthy businessman and his wife slept comfortably in her bedroom, only a few doors away from the rooms that Mystery Inc. had been sleeping in; however, it wasn't a very sound sleep as she tossed and turned in her bed every few minutes, she soon realized that the reason why she wasn't sleeping well was because she was having nightmares; right in the middle of one of them, in which she was being chased by two horrible, foul smelling zombies she woke up in a cold sweat, after she woke up she looked over at her alarm clock which now displayed twelve o' clock in the morning.

At first Kelly grumbled that she woke up in the middle of the night, however after a few moments she did a double take and realized that in all the horror movies and TV shows she ever watched, and all the horror books she had ever written, midnight was known as the witching hour, the time of night that horrible, supernatural things seemed to happen.

Now that it was midnight, she realized that there was a possibility that something might happen to her mystery solving idols, or her parents, so she decided to get up from her bed and join Scooby and company in their investigation; having worn her usual clothing to bed, just in case something like could or might happen, she knew that if she didn't find out what was really going on inside the house, she would live to regret not helping her friends, after getting up from her bed she walked over to the light switch in her room to make sure it was working properly, after all there had been thunder and lightning aplenty during the evening so far.

Kelly then attempted to click the light switch on, however she discovered it was not working properly, so she tried clicking it off, which was pretty useless considering it didn't work; the young blonde woman realized that he father was right and the lights were out, so she walked over to her nightstand and pulled out a candle, candleholder and match, once she placed the candle in the holder she struck the match and lit the candle, which instantly bathed the room in light, which she was very thankful for; next Kelly walked over to the door and attempted to open it, after remembering that she locked it after she talked to Scooby and friends, she unlocked it and walked into the upstairs corridor, hoping that she would find the mystery solving Great Dane and his friends, before whoever or whatever took her parents found her first.

"Wow, it certainly is creepy in the mansion with the lights out, I just hope I don't run into anything wearing a white sheet" Kelly remarked to no one in particular as she walked down the upstairs corridor, her heels clicking on the stone floor with every step that she took; however, unseen to the young blonde haired woman, she was being stalked by a mysterious figure who was intending to add her to his collection of kidnapped victims and was biding his time until he was ready to pounce like a tiger or other predator would ambush its prey.

While Kelly Larson started her investigation of the mansion that she had called home for close to the last eighteen years, hoping to uncover the real cause of all the ghosts and supernatural happenings that had occurred over the years, the members of Mystery Inc. were beginning to undertake their own exploration into the mysterious happenings at the Larson Estate and Mrs. April Larson's disappearance.

During the time that Mr. Larson vanished and Kelly Larson began her investigation, Fred and Daphne were beginning their own search for the person or thing that was responsible for April Larson's disappearance; at the present time, the blond young adult and the red head were walking down a corridor, passing by several seemingly identical doors, until they came to a door at the end of the hall, which piqued the two sleuths curiosity; the two investigators attempted to pus the door open and within a few moments succeeded, once the door was wide open the pair of young detectives walked inside the room and began searching for Mrs. Larson.

"Hmm, this must be the library" Fred remarked as he scanned the room.

"I think you're right Freddie, I can see shelves full of books all over the place" Daphne replied.

"Yeah, hey maybe we'll be able to find a clue as to Mrs. Larson's disappearance in here" Fred commented.

"How would there be a clue in here Freddie?" Daphne asked.

"Well, there are probably plenty of volumes in here, and there's a good chance we might find something that will tell us about the history of this house, I mean besides what Mr. Larson told us" Fred remarked.

"I still don't know how that would help us Fred, but I guess it's as good a place to start as any" Daphne said.

"Right, now let's each of us take a side of the room and start searching through the books on each side" Fred replied.

"Good thinking Freddie, why don't I take the right side and you take the left" Daphne said.

"Good idea Daphne, now let's get started" Fred replied.

With that Fred and Daphne began gathering up books from the shelves and began digging into the strange house's supernatural past; however, while they searched they were unaware that a dark figure who was hidden entirely in the shadows began walking into the exact same hallway that they had been walking in a few moments ago; several moments later the figure, breathing heavily as he walked made his way to the library door and slowly closed it, which Fred and Daphne didn't notice as they had sat down to read through the books they had chosen from the shelves, however when the door closed and locked the figure began laughing in a sickening and evil manner before he walked away from the door and disappeared back into the corridor.

The two young adult investigators were now unknowingly trapped in the locked library, with possibly no way out of the room and no way out of the house, but was the figure that locked them inside one of the mansion's ghosts?

And if so would they be able to find a clue as to April Larson's disappearance? For now however, the two of them would have to figure out what ghosts and monsters had to do with the disappearance of a communications mogul's wife, because there was a chance that the disappearance could connect with the supernatural creatures of Larson Manor.

Upstairs meanwhile, Shaggy and Velma were starting their own investigation and were walking down the hallway; the cowardly detective and the bespectacled young woman held hands just in case something happened to either of them, but mainly because both of them were nervous about staying in a haunted mansion with a kidnapper, although it was also because they loved each other and would hate to be separated.

"Shaggy?" Velma asked.

"Yes Velma?" Shaggy inquired.

"I was thinking" Velma remarked.

"You were?" Shaggy questioned.

"Of course I was, why?" Velma asked.

"Well, I always like it when you're thinking; did I ever tell you that your face looks really cute when you think" Shaggy replied.

"No, you never did, but thank you for saying that, it means a lot to me" Velma remarked.

"No problem Velma; now what were you thinking about?" Shaggy asked.

"It's simple, Mr. Larson told us that those ghosts and monsters have been haunting the mansion since around 1800 right?' Velma noted.

"That's right" Shaggy replied.

"And Mr. Larson told us that he was the owner of a communications company right?" Velma asked.

"Right again, but what does that have to do with ghosts?" Shaggy inquired.

"Maybe nothing, maybe everything; what I'm thinking is there's a possibility, no matter how small that these ghosts may be nothing more than sophisticated electronics, or may be operated by wires and pulleys" Velma replied.

"Vel, I love you and all, but I think you're wrong this time" Shaggy remarked.

"Huh? Why I am I wrong Shaggy?" Velma asked with a somewhat curious look on her face.

"Well, like I didn't want to tell you this before but…" Shaggy replied, scratching the back of his neck as he spoke, trying to figure out just how to tell Velma about what had happened between him and Kelly Larson a few hours earlier; as he thought Velma decided to inquire as to what he was thinking about and talking about and why he was looking and sounding the way he did.

"Shaggy, something's up with you; you look almost like a chicken with it's head cut off, not only that you look really flustered too, so what's going on?" Velma asked.

"Velma, like why would you say that? Nothing's going on and especially nothing's going on between me and Kelly Larson, oops" Shaggy replied, although he quickly placed a hand over his mouth; unfortunately Velma already heard what he said and folded her arms in a somewhat annoyed fashion.

"Shaggy Rogers! You mean to tell me that, that another girl was interested in you, while I was only a few doors down!" Velma said, almost screaming at the young man.

"Velma calm down, you don't want to wake up the whole house; and besides, I told her that you were my girlfriend and that I wasn't interested in her, believe me the only girl I will ever be interested in is you Velms" Shaggy said as he took Velma's right hand and kissed it.

"Shaggy, that-that was very nice of you to say, and I'm glad you told me that; because I think you just gave us another suspect in this mystery" Velma replied.

"Huh? Like what are you talking about Velma?" Shaggy asked.

"It's very simple, from what you just told me about the Larsons daughter, I have a pretty good hunch as to what's really going on around here, and if I'm right then we can solve this case before the night's over" Velma replied.

"But Velma, I didn't tell you anything about Kelly Larson yet" Shaggy remarked.

"Shaggy, what do we need to know about her? I mean you heard what Mr. Larson said, she's probably really good looking, she probably is a Straight A student at school and she's probably pretty popular, does that cover it?" Velma asked with arms folded and looking somewhat impatient with her cowardly boyfriend.

"Well, like I guess so" Shaggy replied.

"See, she's probably the prototypical rich girl, although I would rather hang around Daphne then Kelly Larson" Velma said, shaking her head as she spoke.

"Velma, there's more to her then that" Shaggy replied.

"Oh really? Like what?" Velma inquired.

"Well as I was trying to tell you a few minutes ago, she visited Fred, Scooby and me after you, Daphne and Scrappy went into your bedroom" Shaggy stated.

"OK, what did she say to the three of you?" Velma asked.

"Well for starters she threw herself at Fred, then she threw herself at me; of course Fred and I both rejected her advances, but she still seemed really nervous about something" Shaggy replied.

"Well, she doesn't sound nervous to me" Velma said, still a bit annoyed.

"Like believe me she was, and then she told the three of us something that made me feel like I would if you were in danger; she told the three of us that she watched her father right the e-mail to Daphne, and then she watched her father write something down, after her father left the room and the notepad that he was using behind she got a chance to read the notepad and she realized that her father was going to try and kill her and her mother, and then once the two of them were dead, she said he was going to go after us" Shaggy explained.

"Shaggy, why didn't you tell me that before?" Velma asked.

"Um Velma, you were yelling at me because Kelly Larson was interested in me, and you got upset with me because of that; so I didn't get a chance to explain my position and what Kelly told the two of us, or three of us as the case may be" Shaggy replied.

"Oh, sorry about that Shaggy, I didn't mean to get so crazy about Kelly Larson and that stuff; I know you're in love with me and I shouldn't have been jealous" Velma said.

"That's okay Velma, you can be jealous, it's a natural emotion and you can have it; you just can't let it get the best of you" Shaggy replied.

"Not a problem Shaggy, and I still love you" Velma said as she walked over and hugged the cowardly young adult.

"You're welcome Velma and I still love you too" Shaggy replied, feeling the warmth of the bespectacled young woman's hug.

"So Shaggy, you said Kelly Larson's father might try and kill her and her mother?" Velma asked.

"Right Velma, but what… oh I get it, you think Mr. Larson's responsible for Mrs. Larson's disappearance and not only that but you think that Mr. Larson has something to do with the ghosts and hauntings in this mansion" Shaggy replied.

"Exactly, so if we can track down Mr. Larson, then maybe we can figure out what he did with Mrs. Larson and what's he's really up to" Velma remarked.

"Okay, so let's get going" Shaggy replied.

"Right" Velma said.

As the bespectacled young woman and the cowardly young adult continued to make their way through the upstairs hallway, they were unaware that a sinister presence was watching them and was keeping track of every step they were making; outside of the mysterious mansion, Scooby Doo and his brave, but small nephew were beginning their own investigation of the grounds, of course because they were both dogs, and Great Danes to boot, they would have no problem sniffing around the estate for clues to the mystery, which they hoped to find before they were taken by whatever force that had abducted Mr. and Mrs. Larson, which they didn't know about, at least at the moment.

Although one Great Dane's mind was on the case and the mysterious mansion of the Larson family, the other Great Dane, the younger of the two in fact's thoughts were not on the case, in fact they were on something much different and much more complex then a mere mystery involving mere ghosts or monsters.

"Uncle Scooby?" Scrappy asked.

"Res Rappy?" the older of the two Great Danes answered.

"Can I ask you a question? It's really important" Scrappy responded.

"Ri ruess ro, rut is it?" Scooby inquired.

"Well, remember when I asked you when we got here about why Shaggy and Velma were acting the way they were acting, and why Fred and Daphne were acting the way they were acting" the diminutive Great Dane replied.

"Rure I remember" Scooby remarked.

"Well Uncle Scooby, since the others are off looking for clues in other parts of the house, can you tell me what's going on?" Scrappy inquired.

"Rertainly Rappy, rell, rou ree rhen rou reople, ra roy and a rirl, ror a ran and a roman, rare a lot about each other, rhey're in rove" Scooby explained.

"Love? Is that why Shaggy and Velma are acting the way they're acting the way they are?" Scrappy asked.

"Res, rame rith Fred and Raphne" Scooby replied.

"Aww, that's really sweet; so Fred and Daphne are boyfriend and girlfriend, and Shaggy and Velma are boyfriend and girlfriend too?" Scrappy questioned.

"Rep, rhey rure are" Scooby replied.

"So Uncle Scooby, are you sure you're okay with Shaggy and Velma dating each other, and are you okay with Fred and Daphne dating each other?" Scrappy inquired.

"Ras rar as Fred and Raphne are roncerned, res; rut ror Relma and Rhaggy… ri ruess ro, ri rean Rhaggy's ry rest friend, rand ro is Relma, reeing rhem rate reach other ris a rittle reird, rut ri ruess it's okay" Scooby replied.

"That's good Uncle Scooby, by the way, mind if I ask you something else?" Scrappy inquired.

"Rertainly Rappy, rut rould rou rike to know?" Scooby asked.

"Well Uncle Scooby, it's kind of personal…" Scrappy replied.

"Rhat's okay Rappy, rou can ask me ranything, rou're ry rephew, rand ri'm rour runcle, ro rou rould re able to ralk ro re about ranything" Scooby commented.

"Well, okay if you insist; Uncle Scooby, tell the truth, have you ever had or do you have a girlfriend like Shaggy?" Scrappy asked.

"Rappy, ri ron't know rif ri rant ro ranswer rhat ruestion, rut rif rou insist and rif rou really rant ro know rhe ranswer ri'll rell you" Scooby replied.

"I do Uncle Scooby, I really do" Scrappy said, while almost bouncing up and down with excitement.

"Rokay Rappy, ri rive; rafter all, rou are ry ravorite rephew, ro answer rour ruestion, res ri rhave rad a rew rirlfriends rover rhe rears, rome refore ri ret rou rand rome rafter rou rent roff ro rhe rolice academy" Scooby replied.

"Wow, so who were the lucky dogs who dated you, pardon the expression" Scrappy wondered.

"Rot a roblem, rell rack rhen rhe rive of us rolved rysteries, refore rou rame along, ri ras attracted ro a rouple of rogs, rhere ras a really rute roodle, rand a really rood rooking rog rith brown fur, rho ratted rher reyelashes rat re" Scooby replied.

"Cool, anybody else?" Scrappy asked.

"Res, rhere rere a rouple of rhem; rone ras a rog relonging ro an old friend of Rhaggy's, rand rhe other ras a Rhihuahua, rhe ras really rute roo" Scooby replied.

"Boy Uncle Scooby, you sure have had a lot of admirers, anyone else?" Scrappy inquired.

"Rell, rhere ras rone rirl rog rin rarticular rhat rought ri ras randsome, rand ri rought rhe ras reautiful as rell" Scooby replied.

"Really? Now I'm pretty curious Uncle Scooby, who was this girl dog that you thought was cute?" Scrappy wondered with a curious look on his face.

"Rell, rit ras rome rime ago, Rhaggy, re, Fred, Raphne and Relma rere raveling roughout rhe rountry rin the Rystery Rachine, rand re rere rlinded ry rome reird right; re ridn't know ruite rhat it ras at rirst, ror a rhile re rought it ras rome rind of ret" Scooby explained.

"A weird light? Was it a UFO or a spaceship?" Scrappy asked.

"Runny rou rention rhat Rappy, recause re rad ro ret rhe ran rixed, ro re ralked rowards a rown, and ret a rechanic rand rome rownsfolk; rome rime after that, Rhaggy and I rere rabducted ralmost rike re rere rhose rwo rimes re realt rith aliens" Scooby replied.

"Wow! What else Uncle Scooby?" Scrappy asked, hanging on every word that his uncle was saying.

"Rell, rome rime rafter rhat re rere ret ry a reautiful rhotographer and her Rolden Retriever, rhich is rho ri rell in rove rith" Scooby replied.

"Cool, what was her name and who was the photographer?" Scrappy asked.

"Rhe rog's rame ras Ramber, rand rhe rhotographer's rame ras Rystal" Scooby replied.

"Crystal and Amber? Wow, they sound like two really wonderful girls Uncle Scooby, so what happened to them?" Scrappy inquired.

"Rell Rappy, rit's romething rhat rou'll rave to rlearn rif rou ever rant a rirlfriend, respecially rhen rou're ry rephew; ras it rurned out, Rystal and Ramber rere raliens, rand rovernment ragernts rom ranother rlanet ro root" Scooby replied.

"Uh oh, so what did you and Shaggy do when you found out they were aliens?" Scrappy asked.

"Rell, rhey relped us rolve a rystery rinvolving rhony raliens rhat rere really rovernment remployees; rhey round rold, rand tried to reep it for rhemselves, rut recause it ras rovernment roperty, rhey ralmost rot away rith it; rhankfully re ranaged ro ratch rhem, rand rhey rere rent ro prison" Scooby replied.

"Boy what a thrilling adventure, so what happened to Crystal and Amber?" Scrappy asked.

"Rell, re raid our roodbyes rand Rystal and Ramber rent rack ro rheir rome planet" Scooby replied.

"Aw man, I'm sorry Uncle Scooby; maybe if I was there, Crystal and Amber wouldn't have left" Scrappy remarked.

"Ri ron't know about that Rappy, rut I rish rhey were rill rere; Ramber ras a ronderful Rolden Retriever, rand really rood rooking ro root" Scooby replied.

"I bet she was Uncle Scooby, I bet she was; do you think I would like her Uncle Scooby?" Scrappy asked.

"Ri rhink rhe rould Rappy, raybe rhere's a ray ro rontact her, rand raybe rou ran ralk ro her romeday" Scooby replied.

"I think I'd like that Uncle Scooby, I think I would like that; so Uncle Scooby, since Shaggy and Velma are boyfriend and girlfriend, do you think you'll ever find another girlfriend?" Scrappy asked.

"Rell Rappy, Relma ronce raid rhere's romeone rout rhere ror everyone, ras rar as romen rand rirls, rand rhat includes rirl rogs, ro I rhink rhere's a rirlfriend rout rhere ror re, romewhere" Scooby replied.

"That's cool Uncle Scooby, and I hope you do find yourself another girlfriend; and who knows, maybe she'll like me, and maybe she'll want to marry you or something" Scrappy remarked.

"Rell, ri ron't know about rhat Rappy, rut raybe rhoever it is rill rall in rove rith re and I'll have ryself another rirlfriend" Scooby replied.

"I hope so Uncle Scooby, you're a cool dog and a great uncle, and I think any girl dog would love to have you for a boyrfriend" Scrappy stated.

"Raw, rhanks Rappy" Scooby replied, looking over at his nephew with great pride and admiration, which were the same emotions that Scrappy looked at his uncle with.

"Uncle Scooby, can I ask you something else?" Scrappy inquired.

"Rure rappy, rhat is it?" Scooby asked.

"Well, I know a lot of girls would love to be your girlfriend Uncle Scooby, you're so popular and brave" Scrappy replied.

"Rell, ri ron't rike ro brag, rut ri ruess ro rould ray rhat" the Great Dane sleuth said as he rubbed his paw on his fur in a somewhat triumphant manner.

"I know you are, that's why your such a cool uncle; but that wasn't what I was asking, what I want to know is well, do you think any girl dogs would want to be my girlfriend?" Scrappy asked, scratching the back of his head as he spoke, considering he wasn't sure how to ask his uncle about such a subject.

"Rappy" Scooby said simply as he scooped up his nephew and held him up to speak with him, partly because he didn't want to look down and strain his neck.

"Ri rhink rou're a ronderful ruppy rand a ronderful rog; rot ro rention rou're a rery rool and rave rephew; ri'm rery rappy ro rhave ro ras a rephew Rappy Roo, rand I rhink romeday, rometime, romewhere, rome rirl rog rill rask rou ron a date, rand rhen rhe rirl rog rill re rour rirlfriend, ri know rit rill rappen, rou ran rount on it" the canine sleuth explained.

Scrappy Doo then smiled as he reached out to hug his Uncle, which he easily was able to do; the younger of the two Great Danes couldn't stop smiling as he and his relative embraced in what could only be described as a very heartwarming moment, that is if you were a fly on the wall on the grounds of the Larson Estate of course.

Scooby and Scrappy had known each other, and been family for what seemed to be decades, and now that Scrappy was back in the Mystery Inc. fold he seemed to be a kindler gentler Great Dane.

While he was still the super sleuth that he was when he first met his famous uncle and still wanted to splat ghosts and monsters, now he was smarter and would always come when the other members of the group called him, or when they needed help solving a case, in short Scrappy Doo had become somewhat of a nuisance in Mystery Inc., to someone who was a trusted, valued member of the team, the sixth member of the team specifically, which made Scooby Doo as proud as someone in his situation could be.

Still smiling, the younger of the two canines was set down onto the grass by the elder of the pair; even though the two of them were sharing a warm, friendly family moment, they both knew that the reason they had been called to the creepy looking estate, along with their friends, was to solve a mystery and to stay an entire night without leaving the grounds, which considering the rather sordid history of the estate was going to be quote tough, but deep down Scooby and Scrappy both knew that Mystery Inc. could crack the case once and for all.

However, watching behind a nearby tree and viewing everything including the heartwarming moment between Scooby and Scrappy was a mysterious figure cloaked in black; the darkness of the night seemed to perfectly camouflage the figure as he hid in the shadows, after all, if he was discovered his plans would be ruined, and the young sleuths that had been called in to investigate the estate would surely leave alive, which was something that this figure didn't want, to say the least.

Author's Notes: Phew, finally finished that chapter; it's not that I didn't want to finish it, I just goofed off a lot Oh well, I did get back to it and I will continue writing, sorry if I kept everybody waiting, but like I've said sometimes I get distracted by other things and I forget about writing for a while. To those of you who have me on your favorites or watch list, thanks for hanging in with me and this story will have 12 chapters (at least that's what I planned for); I may have more or I may have less, it depends, although future chapters will get much more interesting if I do say so myself (of course since I'm writing them they probably will be


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

While Scooby Doo and Scrappy Doo continued to explore the outside portion of the Larson estate for clues, Fred and Daphne carried on with their investigation of the downstairs library, trying to find something, anything that would help them figure out the reality behind the strange supernatural history of the foreboding building known as the Larson Estate.

Because the two young adults wrote for a living and because they had experience with the writing business, you would think the library would be a good place to find clues to a mystery; however, thus far they hadn't much luck in the clue department, but because they were determined to solve the mystery and because there was too much on the line for them to quit now, they pressed on with their investigation.

As Fred poured through a large leather bound volume with light gold lettering on the cover, he found himself gasping at what was enclosed inside; for that matter, anyone who set foot in a library inside a haunted mansion during a thunderstorm would probably gasp at the same things that the leader of the group of detectives was reading about, including the bravest of souls, in this case Fred Jones.

Having heard her companion's gasps, Daphne who was at another table in the room, quickly came to Fred's side and found him reading through the aforementioned book; the red head was a bit confused as to what Fred was gasping about, so she decided to ask him what was going on, and what he was reading.

"Are you okay Freddie?" Daphne inquired as she gently grasped Fred's arm.

"Yeah, I'm okay, just a little creeped out" Fred replied, looking back at Daphne.

"Creeped out? How come?" the red head wondered.

"You're going to think this is really weird but… well, it's because of what I'm reading" Fred replied.

"Freddie, how could you be creeped out by a book? Unless it was something by Edgar Allen Poe or something like that" Daphne said with a chuckle.

"No, it's not something from Edgar Allen Poe, far worse as a matter of fact; pull up a chair next to me and I'll show you what I mean" Fred replied, with an almost nervous and possibly frightened tone in his voice.

"OK" Daphne replied as brought a wooden chair over from the table that she was sitting at over to the table where Fred was sitting; once the red head sat down, the blond young adult was able to tell her what he was talking about, as he laid the book down on the table for both of them to see.

"Here we are, read the pages that I was talking about" Fred explained.

"OK" Daphne said as she began reading, although in a few moments of reading she began to realize just what Fred was talking about when he said he was creeped out by some of the items in the book.

"Jeepers, this-this is horrible!" Daphne exclaimed in sheer terror.

"Now you know why I said I was creeped out by the book; listen to this: the first sighting of a supernatural being in this mansion occurred in 1804, only five years after the mansion was finished and the first inhabitants, Mr. David Andrews and his wife Jessica moved in; one night, David and Jessica were woken up a mysterious noise, it seemed to be a loud banging sound that echoed through the mansion" Fred said, reading over every word of the strange history of the house.

"Jeepers, I wonder what was causing the noise?" Daphne asked, secretly wishing she didn't find out the answer.

"I'll tell you: according to this, when David and Jessica walked downstairs to investigate they saw a mysterious and frightening figure wearing a black hood and cloak; when David Andrews walked over to the figure he removed the hood, only to see a skeletal face with glowing yellow eyes and carrying what looked to be a scythe" Fred continued.

"Jeepers! That sounds like the Grim Reaper, not a ghost; wait, you don't think…" Daphne gasped.

"I certainly do Daphne; this ghost, or whatever it was must have said something or done something, or possibly the sight of him was so incredibly horrifying that it must have caused the Andrews to… well, die of fright" Fred remarked, sounding almost like Alfred Hitchcock rather then a detective.

"Freddie I wish you hadn't said that" Daphne replied nervously.

"Daph, don't start acting like Shaggy and Scooby all of a sudden; I know this house is haunted, and I know some of the ghosts might be unbelievably terrifying and scary beyond all comprehension, but believe me there's nothing to worry about" Fred explained.

Naturally hearing Fred's explanation sent Daphne into a look of absolute hysterics, well half hysterics and half fright, considering she had just listened to one of the most horrible stories that had ever been told; in this case it sent her face into the upper arm of Fred and her shoulder into his, in short she was bawling her eyes out and wishing she was anywhere else in the world other then the Larson Estate.

"Freddie, I don't want us to end up like the people mentioned in the book; I don't want to end up scared half to death, or dead" Daphne said, trying to wipe the tears from her face, however she wasn't succeeding much.

"Daphne, I can say with all certainly that nothing is ever going to happen to you; neither of us will be scared half to death, or scared to death, I can assure you of that, and I can also tell you that no matter what happens I am going to protect you and keep you safe from harm and danger" Fred replied, gently holding the red head's hands as he spoke.

"Freddie, I know you can, and I know you will; it's just that I-I, well I don't know if I'm strong enough to handle this mystery, I mean we're dealing with ghosts that could possibly seriously hurt us or kill us, this is way different then our older cases, I may not be able to face the danger" Daphne remarked, while Fred began brushing tears away from her face.

Still seeing that Daphne was afraid and that she needed comforting, the blond writer/young adult found himself pulling the young woman into a warm hug; while he had certainly done this before during mysteries and each and every time that the two of them went out on a date, this time it meant much more then all those times, this time the red haired writer needed support and Fred was just the person that could provide it.

"Daphne, I completely understand that this is unlike anything we've ever faced, we've all proven that we can solve cases with real villains, and not just men in women in creepy costumes; we can really do a lot of good here, if we can stick around for a while longer, if we can just hang around Mr. and Mrs. Larson's home until tomorrow morning, we'll get a million dollars each for charity" Fred explained as he looked up into Daphne's blue eyes.

"I know Freddie, and I understand that people are looking forward to getting this money, but I just don't know if I'm strong enough to handle what we're going to face" Daphne replied, while she could feel her hands shaking nervously as she spoke.

"Daphne, I know we can solve this mystery, I can feel it; we've put too much into this to leave now, we have to help Mr. and Mrs. Larson and put to rest this supernatural curse once and for all; believe me Daphne, I'm afraid too, but we can't let that stop us from uncovering the truth behind this mystery, okay?" Fred asked, softly stroking Daphne's arm as he spoke.

"OK and you're right Freddie, we can't let a silly thing like ghosts scare us, we can solve this thing no problem" Daphne replied, sounding as if her confidence had been restored.

"There you go Daph, you've got the spirit, pardon the pun" Fred remarked.

"I sure do, now the only question is: how do we proceed with solving this case?" Daphne asked.

"Well first of all let's take this book with us so we can show it to the rest of the gang when we catch up with them" Fred explained.

"Good thinking Freddie, there might be more clues as to what's really going on inside this house" Daphne replied.

"Thanks Daph, you know I knew there was some reason why your parents liked me so much" Fred noted.

"Yeah, besides you are a very cool guy, and very handsome at that" Daphne replied, smiling at Fred as she spoke.

"True Daphne, very true; now let's get out of this creepy library before something happens to us" the blond young adult remarked.

"Yeah, any longer inside this eerie room and my hair will start standing on end" Daphne chuckled.

After taking a hold of Daphne's hand and after Fred slipped the book he had been reading under his arm, the two sleuths walked toward the door of the library and attempted to exit the room; well, except for one teeny, tiny important detail, which they found out as they tried to depart.

"Jeepers, Freddie, I hate to say this but I can't get the door open for love or money" Daphne said as she pulled on the door knob with all her might, but unfortunately for her she couldn't get it open, no matter what she tried.

"What? It can't be Daph, I mean the door was unlocked when we got in here; remember, after we came inside we closed the door, but it was unlocked, so how in the world could it be locked?" Fred asked.

"Well the door's locked Freddie, I know, I tried opening it" Daphne replied.

"Hmm… well, I still don't believe the door's locked, but I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt; although, maybe I should try and open the door myself" Fred remarked.

"Be my guest Freddie" Daphne replied as she moved aside to let the blond young adult try and open the door.

With that Fred made his attempt to try and open the library door, but as you might expect and as you might have guessed, after several attempts by Fred to open said door, he was unable to open it as well, despite trying as hard as he could to do so and pulling on it with all his might and strength.

"Boy, this door must be stuck, I can't get it open either" Fred remarked.

"Told you so" Daphne replied, with her hands on her hips in the trademark Daphne style as she spoke.

"Hmm… that's really weird; almost funny when you think about it" Fred remarked, his index and middle finger stroking his chin as he spoke; soon his fingers went up to his bottom lip as he deliberated on what was happening.

"Well if this is funny, then why aren't we laughing?" Daphne asked, leaning up against a nearby bookcase, which Fred then walked over to, joining his red haired companion.

"Good question Daph, I mean we should have been able to just open the door and walk out of here, but we can't; which means only one thing" Fred replied.

"What's that Freddie?" Daphne asked, secretly hoping Fred wasn't going to say what she thought he might say.

"I'm afraid that someone's trapped us in here and doesn't want us to leave this room" Fred replied.

"But who? And why?" Daphne inquired.

"If I had to guess, probably the same person that abducted Mrs. Larson's wife" Fred replied.

"But why would a kidnapper want to lock us up in a library?" Daphne asked.

"To drive us crazy, to stop us from solving the mystery and giving money to charity, to keep us from meddling, who really knows?" Fred replied.

"OK, so if someone or something is trying to keep us in the library, how are we going to get out of here so we can help the Larsons and solve this mystery?" Daphne asked.

"Hmm… I'm not sure yet…" Fred started, however after a moment of speaking, he turned around and began examining the bookcase as if he was looking for something, which Daphne noticed.

"Freddie, what are you doing?" the red head inquired.

"Trying to see if there's some kind of secret passage or a way out of this room besides using the door" Fred explained.

"Oh, I get it; problem is most secret passages are very well hidden, so how on earth are we going to find it? If there is one" Daphne replied.

"Easy, we check out the bookcase and examine every square inch of the books until we find it" Fred remarked.

"OK then, let's find it" Daphne replied.

With that, the alluring red head joined the blond young adult in searching the bookcase, hoping to find some semblance of a way out of what seemed to be the room that might be their final resting place, if they didn't find a way to escape of course.

After a few minutes of searching, Daphne found a book on one of the top shelves that seemed to be loose; however, the red head realized that she might not be tall enough to retrieve the book to see if it unlocked a secret passage, so she enlisted Fred to act as a step stool so that she could reach the top of the shelf, which wasn't easy considering the red head was wearing heels as usual.

"Daph, I wish you wouldn't wear those shoes every day; they're digging into my shoulders" Fred remarked, wincing a bit from having his girlfriend's shoes on his shoulders, which needless to say wasn't very pleasant.

"Sorry Freddie, but these are my favorite shoes after all, and I can't help that I wear them during a mystery" Daphne replied.

"I guess you're right Daph; so, any luck with the books on the top shelf?" Fred asked.

"You bet, the book that's loose is just about out of the shelf; and I should have it undone within a few seconds" Daphne replied, still trying to remove the book from the shelf.

"Well keep at it Daph, it should be free soon" Fred remarked.

"Right Freddie" Daphne replied.

The red head continued struggling with the book, desperately attempting to remove it from its precarious perch atop the bookshelf; finally the red head managed to pry the book from its spot on the shelf, albeit with a rather unexpected result after she succeeded.

"Hey it worked, I did it!" Daphne said as she pulled the book out, that is before falling down towards the floor with book in hand, luckily her boyfriend and companion was there to catch her and keep her safe from any injuries or harm.

"Daphne, are you okay?" Fred asked, hoping that the red head didn't have any bumps or bruises, because if she did there was a good chance that her parents would have the young man tarred and feathered, along with any other punishment they could think of.

"I know it sounds silly but I'm always okay whenever you're around Freddie" Daphne said, looking up into the young man's eyes.

"The same goes for me too Daphne; and I see you got that book of the shelf" Fred replied as he placed the young woman down.

"Sure did" Daphne remarked.

"Terrific, now we can find out if there's a secret passageway in here" Fred replied.

Luckily for the blond young adult, he was about to receive an answer to his query and what an answer it was; for as the two lovebirds stood in the middle of the room, they noticed that the bookcase was beginning to open and that there was something behind it, which had been hidden away from view and from prying eyes as well.

"Jeepers, take a look at that!" Daphne exclaimed, pointing at the now exposed bookcase.

"Yeah, it's a secret passageway and it will probably help us get to the bottom of this whole mystery, come on" Fred replied as the unofficial leader of Mystery Inc. stepped into the secret corridor, while his red headed companion followed closely behind him, that is before the bookcase closed behind them, sealing them inside the passageway.

While Fred and Daphne explored the secret passageway, Velma and Shaggy were continuing their own investigation of the upstairs portion of the mysterious mansion; for the moment, the two of them were doing what they usually did during a mystery, although part of Shaggy's mind was focused on his canine companion, and not on Velma or the present mystery.

After all, Shaggy Rogers was always a bit nervous whenever he and Scooby weren't paired up together; Scooby and he were best friends, ever since the skinny young adult was a kid and the Great Dane was a mere puppy, but considering the canine was watching over Scrappy Doo, maybe the youngster had nothing to worry about, maybe he was making a big deal out of nothing.

In the midst of their search of the upstairs portion of the mansion, Velma noticed that Shaggy had a worried look on his face, which the female sleuth noticed; after all, she and the young man had been dating for a few years now and she certainly didn't want to make some of the same mistakes she had made when they dated in high school, so she decided to try and be as gentle as possible when asking him about why he had a nervous look on his face.

"What's the matter Shaggy?" Velma asked.

"Like are you sure I can tell you?" Shaggy replied back with a question of his own.

"Of course Shaggy, you know you can tell me anything" Velma said, while placing a hand on the young man's shoulder.

"Well, it's Scooby to tell the truth; this is one of the few times I haven't looked for clues with him during a mystery when we've split up, I mean I know he's looking after Scrappy, but sometimes I worry about him" Shaggy replied.

"I know Shaggy; he's one of your best friends, and he's like a brother to you; actually I'm worried about him too, he's like the brother I never had, plus he's a big part of the gang and if something did happen to him I wouldn't feel much like solving mysteries anymore" Velma remarked.

"Velma that was very nice of you to say, I know you two had your disagreements for a while, but I'm glad to see you still care about Scoob" Shaggy replied.

"Well why shouldn't I? I love that big lug, and he's more then a pet, he's more then a mascot too; he's the most lovable, friendly most courageous dog I've ever seen, well other then Scrappy" Velma remarked.

"Velma, I, I'm touched; I mean you guys always have cared about me and Scooby, but why all of this? And why now?" Shaggy asked with a tear coming out of his right eye.

"Because Shaggy, just in case something happens to us and we don't get out of this alive, I wanted to tell you guys how much you mean to the gang; and for that matter, how much you mean to me" Velma replied as she walked over and brushed a tear away from Shaggy's face.

"Velma, that's really nice of you to say; I think you mean a lot to the gang and to me as well" Shaggy remarked.

"I know, and whether you know it or not, I think you and Scooby and Scrappy are the bravest detectives I've ever met; all those times you've been bait for monsters and ghosts, I secretly was hoping that you were okay and that you wouldn't suffer any harm or be hurt by any of the villains that we've encountered" Velma replied.

"You did? I mean you have? I mean…" Shaggy said, trying to react to what Velma had told him; although he didn't show it at the moment, he was very appreciative of what she was saying and was very happy that the young detective genuinely cared for him and the two canines that he watched over.

"Shaggy, you've been one of my best friends for as long as I can remember; I don't know how many times you've helped us out of danger, and how many times you've helped each of us with personal stuff, I mean you're always the optimist and whatever you tell us or however you help us seems to always be just the right thing to say at that time" Velma explained, smiling as she spoke.

"What can I say? I guess I'm just a polite and gentle person; the first time something makes me angry, it might be the first; well, there are a few times I've gotten angry but those were for darn good reasons" Shaggy replied.

"I know Shaggy; and you don't know how much we all appreciate that, but there's one thing above all that I like about you and Scooby and Scrappy" Velma remarked, smiling at the young man and holding his arm as she spoke.

"What's that Velma?" Shaggy asked.

"You three are so funny and so intelligent too; I know it's surprising that I say that, but you three are really cool, and further more: I love all three of you, especially you Shaggy" Velma replied.

"I know you do Velma; and thanks" Shaggy remarked, blushing a bit as he spoke.

"You're very welcome believe me; by the way, before we left for the Larson Mansion, I talked to my parents and said they both are cool with you and I dating" Velma replied.

"Actually Velms, I talked to my parents and they're both OK with us dating too; my dad was really impressed actually when I told him, after remembering that you were pretty intelligent and a great investigator; he even wanted me to ask you if you could give me some tips in police procedure" Shaggy remarked, chuckling a bit at the last part of his statement.

"I don't know what I could tell you about police work Shaggy; Scrappy was a police dog, maybe he could tell you a little bit, although I thought your dad was a police chief?" Velma replied, although she knew the answer to that question before she even asked it.

"He is, or at least he was" Shaggy stated.

"Hmm… I wonder why he wanted you to know about police procedure?" Velma wondered.

"Good question; maybe he wants me to take over as Coolsville's police chief" Shaggy replied, although the thought of him as the small Ohio town's chief of police caused him to have a serious case of the giggles, which Velma noticed.

"Don't laugh Shaggy, I think you would make a great police chief" Velma remarked.

"Like now that I think about it, maybe I might be a good police chief" Shaggy replied, while thoughts of him sitting behind his father's desk at police headquarters and arresting criminals throughout Ohio flashed through his mind; those thoughts quickly subsided as he realized he needed to help Velma solve the mystery of the mansion.

"Believe me Shaggy, I know you would; now, let's get back to investigating this mystery before anything else happens to us or to the rest of the Larson family" Velma remarked.

"Right Velma" Shaggy agreed, before he followed the young woman down the hallway.

The two sleuths then resumed their investigation of the upper levels of the mysterious mansion, knowing that they not only needed to solve the mystery of Mrs. Larson's disappearance, but that they also needed to stay in the house until daybreak, which wasn't going to be easy considering it was the dark of night and the mansion seemed creepier then ever.

As soon as Velma and Shaggy came to the middle of the hall, they could both heard the loud crash of lightning and thunder outside the windows of the estate, and wondered if the power was indeed going to go out inside the house like Mr. Larson had said it might.

Without flashlights, at least at the moment, Velma and Shaggy hoped and prayed that the power wouldn't go out, not just yet, at least not until they retreated to their bedrooms and found flashlights so that they could explore the mansion without fear of bumping into anything in the dark, especially ghosts.

"Jinkies, listen to that storm outside Shaggy; I wonder if the roads surrounding this place are flooded?" Velma said, while she wondered what kind of horrible things were possibly running around a haunted mansion during a thunderstorm.

"Like it's certainly possible Vel, I guess if we want to get out of here we might have to get an ark or something" Shaggy replied, chuckling a bit as he spoke.

"Don't joke Shaggy, we might run into a sea monster or worse" Velma remarked, although Shaggy could see that she was a little nervous and attempted to calm her down.

"Relax Velma, we're not going to run into any monsters; by the way, I thought you weren't afraid of monsters" Shaggy replied, albeit a little confused at what his companion was talking about.

"Well usually, I'm not afraid of monsters or ghosts, but being inside a house like this; well, to tell you the truth Shaggy, ever since we set foot in this place, there's been something about this mansion, it just gives me the willies, the creeps and the shivers all in one" Velma explained.

"Velma, Scooby and me, well all of us have been in plenty of creepy places over the years and sure, some of those places were pretty creepy or spooky, but I don't know if any of those places qualified as somewhere that gave us the willies, the creeps and the shivers combined" Shaggy replied.

"Yeah, yeah I guess you're right, I mean there's nothing to be afraid of; all these ghosts and monsters that we encounter turn out to be people in masks and costumes, so I shouldn't worry, right?" Velma stated.

"Exactly" Shaggy replied.

"Good, now let's get back to solving this mystery" Velma said in a somewhat direct manner.

With Shaggy's words still ringing in Velma's head, the pair of young adults resumed searching the hallway for any semblance of a clue, or anything that was remotely unusual or out of the ordinary; which might be a high number considering there were several dozen doors in the corridor, all of which might hold sinister forces behind its doors.

If that was indeed the case, then time was of the essence for the members of Mystery Inc., although within the next couple of minutes, Shaggy and Velma were going to find something sinister indeed; the only question would be if the pair of young adults survived the malevolent forces and if they did, would they want to continue their mystery solving careers? And if so, would the two of them ever be the same again?

Author's Notes: Sorry if the chapter seems short, I got stuck as far as things to write for this chapter for a while, but I managed to get it done and I think I did a great job on it. Also, hopefully everyone likes the little cliff hangar I put at the end of this chapter, I think it sets up the next chapter and the rest of the story pretty well to be honest.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

The rain continued to pour down outside of the gloomy and foreboding mansion that was home to the Larson family, which included a millionaire who made a fortune in the communications named Franklin Larson. While the rain poured down in buckets, it also made for an interesting sound, as every few seconds some of the droplets hit the windows of the house making an almost pitter patter sound, which was to be expected as this usually happened during a thunderstorm, no matter what part of the country you were in.

The pouring rain which was part of the storm along with the strong winds that accompanied it made for any interesting atmosphere as Velma Dinkley and Shaggy Rogers, two of the members of the detective agency known as Mystery Inc. walked amongst the many doors in the upstairs hallway of the foreboding and mysterious Larson Mansion.

How Velma and Shaggy got to the mysterious mansion seemed to start as part of your average mystery, or at least the type of mystery Scooby and his friends usually solved; the eccentric millionaire Franklin Larson had summoned the Great Dane and his friends to his estate about fifty or so miles away from Coolsville, Ohio to uncover the truth behind the shady and rather unsettling history behind the house including its ghosts, who had already absconded with Mrs. Larson, Franklin Larson's wife and later the aforementioned millionaire who had a run in with some of the mansion's ghosts and as a result was kidnapped, or ghost napped as the case may be.

With Mrs. Larson having been taken by some of the mansion's malevolent forces, it was put upon the members of Mystery Inc. to find the millionaire's wife and to stop the strange forces from causing any harm to any other member of the Larson family, or to the young sleuths or Scooby Doo and Scrappy Doo for that matter, which they had already failed to do considering Mr. Larson had vanished from his room earlier in the evening.

Elsewhere in the house the Larson's daughter, a blonde haired beauty named Kelly, was conducting her own investigation; unfortunately for her, she wasn't succeeding in her endeavors and was trying to figure out how she would get the bottom of the mystery surrounding the house, and how she would protect her mother from getting killed or worse.

Kelly had made her way from her bedroom, down a staircase and into the main level of the house where her parents bedroom was and where she had hoped to find some semblance of a clue in order to protect her mother from her father and whatever other terrors that the mansion possessed, which considering what the gang had been told numbered many and featured numerous dangerous ghosts as well.

"Phew, made it downstairs; now let's see if mom's okay" Kelly said aloud and to no one in particular as she held her candle aloft and played it among the dark and dismal reaches of the main level of the place she called home for so many years.

"Jeepers, it's really creepy down here, especially with the lights off; you know it's also too bad Shaggy and Fred are off somewhere else in the house looking for clues with their friends, I wouldn't mind having one of them help me out with my investigation" the budding detective continued, still smiling at the thought of the sandy haired, cowardly young man and the blond haired young man she spoke with earlier.

As the young woman walked down the hall, she could feel an eerie presence watching her, almost waiting for her to slip up so it could capture her and take her hostage; which would be the exact same thing that the ghosts of Larson Mansion had done to the young woman's parents already, unknown to the young blonde haired woman named Kelly of course.

"Ooh, is it just me or is it getting really cold in this house all of a sudden?" Kelly Larson asked herself, holding her shoulders and feeling as if the temperature had dropped about thirty-to-forty degrees since she entered the hallway.

Now the blonde haired young woman was really nervous, she felt extremely chilly and she could sense the presence of something evil in the corridor with her, which chilled her to the bone, even more then usual; disregarding the feeling that she was being watched, and for that matter her feeling cold, she decided to continue walking down the hallway and search for her parents bedroom.

A few moments later, she came to a familiar looking door and smiled as she recognized it to be the door to her parents' bedroom, which she was pleased about. Considering she felt as if she had been watched ever since she ventured from her room, she was happy that she was able to make her way downstairs without seeing any ghosts, ghoulies or anything else that went bump in the night, and for the moment it seemed that Kelly Larson was in the clear.

As she stood at the door she actually had a significant smile on her face, which seemed to say more then any words could ever express about how she was feeling. While most people who decided to explore a haunted house in the dark would probably be chewing their fingernails and pulling their hair out, Kelly was not and as she put her hand on the doorknob of her parents' bedroom, she looked as if she was the living embodiment of everything that was good in the world.

However, where there is good, there is always most certainly evil, and the dreary mansion that Kelly Larson lived in was no exception; although at the moment, Kelly felt as if nothing in the world could go wrong in her life, and that any and all evil in the house might as well take a holiday because nothing was going to stop her from seeing if her parents were okay and possibly getting them to come with her in her investigation, which couldn't hurt.

The lovely young daughter of the Larsons then slowly turned the knob of the door of her parents' bedroom and walked inside, expecting to see her parents, the two people who raised her from birth and who loved her more then anything else in the world.

But unfortunately as soon as Kelly Larson walked inside, she instantly sensed that something was wrong; she noticed that the lights were off, and that she couldn't hear a single thing, which worried her because when she usually entered her parents bedroom she heard what were typical noises, like her father snoring, or the crickets outside the house chirping, or owls hooting; but in this case, she heard nothing along those lines, which made her nervous, and made her fear for not only her parents safety, but hers as well.

Walking across the polished floor of her parents' bedroom, towards her mother and father's Queen Size bed, Kelly Larson's shoes made something of a clicking sound as she advanced slowly through the well-furnished room, albeit with slight trepidation considering there was a chance she would encounter something quite evil.

Finally, with her hand firmly entrenched around her candle, but well below the flame portion, as to not burn her hand, Kelly Larson finished her approach to the bed and stood at the ready next to it; actually as fate would have it, the blonde haired heiress was standing only a few feet away from where her father usually slept and prepared to confront him about what she suspected, or she would have been ready to do confront him except for one little detail that she overlooked.

Looking down at the bed, in the place where she expected to see her father, she instead found herself staring with eyes wide open and mouth agape at an empty space, devoid of any life, especially including her father. Kelly was greatly worried now, maybe her father had already absconded with her mother and was hiding her somewhere in the house, she wasn't quite sure; but once she found that her father was missing, she decided to walk over to the other side of the bed to see if Mrs. Larson was still in bed, which of course as she would soon find out, wasn't.

"No, no, this can't be! Mom, and dad, they're gone!" Kelly declared, although she quickly placed a hand over her mouth, just in case prying ears happened to be listening in.

"This house, this horrible wretched house, its taken them, I'm sure of it! Well, it's not going to get me; I'm going to find Fred, Shaggy and the rest of Mystery Inc. and maybe they can protect me, I hope" the young woman stated as she prepared to head towards the door, and in search of her fellow sleuths.

However the young woman had only gotten a few feet away from the bed and was only five feet, give or take a foot away from the door when she began to hear very unusual noises; at first Kelly Larson wasn't scared, despite seeing that her parents were missing from their bed, partly because she has had viewed an untold amount of horror movies over the years (considering they were one of her favorite genres of movies much to the chagrin of her aforementioned mother and father).

While those horror movies were called trashy, dumb and idiotic by her mother and father, not to mention they also said over and over that the movies were sure to give Kelly nightmares, even though she defended herself watching the films by saying she was very brave and not afraid of anything, they gave Kelly Larson a great amount of information on all sorts of ghosts, monsters, evil creatures and anything else under the sun that was related to the supernatural.

So it made sense that the wealthy businessman and his wife's daughter was able to handle being inside a bedroom where only a few minutes prior she saw that her parents had been abducted and were no doubt now at the mercy of some horrible, demonic creatures, or worse.

Turning back towards the bed, Kelly gritted her teeth, stood tall, and for all intensive purposes prepared to challenge the house's strange forces, whether they liked what she was about to say or not; but regardless of that, Kelly Larson meant business and she was not going to let the house take her parents without a fight.

"You wretched, awful, horrible house! So there's some spooky noises, so my parents are currently… whatever happened to them; oh, I hope nothing awful's happened, well whatever's going on around here, I will not be stopped in trying to find them, do you hear me house! No ghost, vampire, mummy, spirit, or any other kind of supernatural creature is going to stop me from finding my parents!" Kelly Larson said as she shook her fist at the ceiling, walls and floor of her parents' bedroom, clearly angry that the mansion's spirits were messing with her as the case may be.

Realizing that if she spent any more time inside the bedroom, she would be prey to any manner of ghosts and spooks, possibly even the same ones that took her parents, Kelly Larson decided to make tracks from the room as soon as possible. The blonde haired young woman then quickly walked to the door and just as fast as she got to the door, turned the doorknob to leave.

However, before she could do so she began to feel... something, maybe it was nerves, maybe it was the fact that she felt scared, but whatever it was, Kelly Larson knew someone or something was watching her, keeping track of every move she made; in fact, it was almost as if the very walls of the bedroom, and therefore the mansion itself had eyes, but of course Kelly knew that wasn't true, or was it? That she wasn't too sure about for the moment.

Continuing to hold the candle in her left hand, while opening the doorknob with the right, Kelly Larson left the gloomy and empty bedroom, and walked out into the hallway to resume her search for her parents. Upon entering the hallway, she shivered a bit, even though it wasn't very cold, partly due to the fact that while it was thundering outside, it wasn't a very cold rain, but rather it was quite temperate.

While it wasn't very cold in the house, or outside of the house for that matter, Kelly Larson knew the real reason why she felt the way she did; she also knew the reason why she felt as if she was being watched, whether it be in the bedroom, or in the hallway, where she was surrounded by all manner of paintings, sculptures and nothing much else.

No matter what it was, whether it be the paintings in the hall, or the walls in the bedroom, it felt to the blonde haired young woman as if the very depths of the mansion were trying to frighten her and make her, and the rest of Mystery Inc. leave Larson Mansion before they suffered the same fate as the budding sleuth's parents.

This was no more apparent then when Kelly walked though the dark and spooky looking corridor, because as she made her way through the hall, she felt as if the painted eyes of the various artworks, some more then a hundred years old (which were in the mansion because her mother was a bit of a fan of antiques, especially paintings) had been replaced by human eyes.

The eyes of the paintings which varied in color from brown to blue to even a few green ones scanned the room and the hallway when Kelly Larson entered it; looking at the paintings, the budding sleuth knew that something was indeed different about them, in fact she could swear that a few of them were blinking their eyes, surveying her as she passed them, but of course that couldn't be true, or could it?

Again Kelly wasn't too sure what to think about this or even what to make of this situation, but one thing was for sure as she navigated her way through the hallway and into the living room, she needed to find the rest of Mystery Inc., and fast; partly to warn them and make sure they hadn't been taken by the malevolent forces of the mansion, but also to get help, because it was becoming apparent that the mystery her father assigned Scooby and company to solve was quickly becoming very dangerous.

"I just have to get to a phone and soon, this house and this mystery is getting far too frightening to not have the police involved; especially since my parents have disappeared" Kelly thought to herself as she entered the living room.

The young woman then scanned the room in search of a phone in order to get someone who could help her and the rest of Mystery Inc. out to the house so they could assist her in finding her parents and solving the mystery of the estate; walking through the living room, the young woman found herself more nervous then usual as she sought out an answer to why what was happening in the house was happening to her and her friends and family.

About halfway into the living room, Kelly Larson spotted an old oak desk that her father had bought on one of his many business trips (he was as much an antiques buff as Kelly's mother; in this case, the desk happened to be several hundred years old, and was said to belong to Thomas Edison at one point, at least that's what the salesman told the wealthy businessman when he bought it).

Right now though antiques were not on Kelly's mind, however something about the desk did make her happy, as on the right side of it, she spotted a telephone and smiled as she was finally that much closer to making contact to the outside world, and that much closer to getting help to her parents mansion; taking a deep breath, Kelly Larson picked up the phone receiver and dialed the number of the Edwardsville Police Department, which was the closest police department to the mansion, considering the town was located across the old wooden bridge the gang had driven across on the way to the house.

"Hello? Hello? Come on, someone answer me!" Kelly said, almost shouting into the phone as she tried desperately to reach the Edwardsville Police.

Unfortunately for her, and for all inside the house, fate was about to play a part in the mystery, for as the blonde haired young woman stood in the living room with the receiver to her ear, there was a tremendous flash of lightning outside the mansion, and before the young woman knew it, the lights flickered and then went off, and that wasn't the only thing that was happening inside the house.

"Hello? Hello? Oh great!" Kelly Larson said with a look of disgust on her face as she slammed the phone receiver down, thereby hanging up without getting any help for her and the members of Mystery Inc., although she had good reason to hang up the telephone.

"Just my luck, the phone went dead; and judging by the lightning flash, when the phone went out, so did the rest of the power in the house, and probably the surrounding area as well" Kelly thought to herself, as she closed her eyes for a brief moment, imagining that she was somewhere else, anywhere else except Ohio of course.

Although Kelly did have a preference on where she wanted to be, which was preferably somewhere tropical, considering tropical places like Hawaii, or Tahiti were some of the young woman's favorite vacation spots when she went to each and every aforementioned place on Earth with her parents.

As the young woman pictured herself lying on the beach sipping a tropical drink somewhere, her thoughts quickly returned from vacation and relaxation to gloom, ghosts and haunted houses, or more specifically the haunted mansion she currently inhabited; now that the power was out inside the mansion, not to mention the phone service, Kelly Larson really had to find her friends from Mystery Inc., before the darkness outside possibly crept inside the mansion and covered every single square inch of the house.

While the young blonde haired woman and budding detective continued her search for Scooby Doo and friends, Velma and Shaggy were working on their own search of the mansion, specifically the upstairs portion; having searched through the hallway and failing to find any clues to the whereabouts of Miss Larson's parents, or any clues behind the mystery of Larson Mansion, the two investigators found themselves in front of a wooden door, with no idea of who or what lurked inside.

"Well Shaggy, here we are" Velma remarked.

"Yeah, here we are" Shaggy replied.

"Well, I guess we better go inside huh?" Velma asked, looking over at the sandy haired young man.

"Yeah I guess we better" Shaggy replied.

With that, Velma reached for the doorknob and turned it ever so slightly to the left; once she did, the door slowly opened and the pair of sleuths entered the room, naturally with Shaggy placing a hand on Velma's shoulder, both to protect her and guide her out of the room, just in case things were to take a rather frightening turn, which both of them hoped it wouldn't.

The pair of sleuths then took turns scanning the room in search of anything out of the ordinary, or anything that might be considered a clue to Mrs. Larson's disappearance; within a manner of minutes, the two of them had examined every nook and cranny of the room and couldn't find a single clue as to the young woman's mother's vanishing, so the two of them took a few minutes to survey their surroundings, specifically by sitting on an old brass bed in the middle of the room.

"Well Shaggy, I hate to admit when I'm licked, but I'm licked; we haven't found a thing yet in here" Velma explained.

"Like too true Velma, too true; though I wonder what kind of room this is?" Shaggy responded, stroking his chin as he spoke.

"Hmm... you know I don't think we ever got around to figuring that out; although by the looks of things I would guess this is either a store room used by the Larson family, or a guest room of some kind used for when the Larsons had or have guests" Velma replied.

"Which explains the brass bed that we're sitting on" Shaggy stated.

"Correct" Velma answered.

Having gone over most of the room and not found much of anything, Velma and Shaggy decided to take a bit of a break and stay seated on the brass bed; the two of them mostly talked a bit about the current mystery and their relationship, although as they talked, both of them increasingly felt the prospect of sitting on a bed in a darkened haunted mansion, filled with who knows what paranormal forces was probably not the best idea in the world, so they both decided to get up and leave the room in order to start a search in another part of the mansion.

"Velma?" Shaggy asked, as the two of them were about five feet from the door.

"Yes Shaggy?" Velma responded.

"Like have you noticed something, since we got in here that is" Shaggy remarked.

"Like what Shaggy?" Velma inquired.

"Well, like the fact that all the lights seem to be out in the house now; which means this place became much scarier then when we got here" Shaggy replied.

"Oh don't be ridiculous Shaggy, just because the lights are off doesn't mean this place is that scary" Velma responded.

"Easy for you to say" Shaggy replied.

"Shaggy, remember I still have a flashlight; so to me, this mansion isn't that bad, besides you've been in tons of haunted mansions before, but none of them turned out to really be haunted right?" Velma explained, holding up the flashlight that thankfully she had taken from her, Daphne and Scrappy's bedroom when the gang decided to start searching the house.

"Well sure, but this house is different; we've never been in a house like this one before, this one is truly evil, I mean there's bad stuff happening in here, bad mojo and all that" Shaggy replied.

"Bad mojo? Sounds like somebody's seen too many Tarzan movies" Velma chuckled, which the green shirted young adult didn't seem to appreciate very much.

"Don't laugh Vel, I'm serious; something about this mansion makes me want to go seek the advice of a specialist; and I don't mean a medical specialist" Shaggy replied, with a look on his face that Velma hadn't seen much of before; as long as Velma had known Shaggy, the young woman never saw him look the way he was right now.

Strictly speaking, Shaggy Rogers was a bit of chicken, a coward, and someone who when faced with something scary, would usually run like an Olympic sprinter. But Shaggy wasn't really like that at all, in fact if he knew one of his friends was in trouble, especially Scooby or Velma, he would race like the wind to save them, even if he had to face overwhelming odds to do so, that was the kind of person Shaggy Rogers was and when the sandy haired amateur detective explained to Velma what he felt about the mansion they were currently inside, she knew deep down he was telling the truth.

"Shaggy, what exactly are you saying?" Velma said, now gently holding his arms by the wrists in order to get a proper explanation of what he was talking about.

"Like I'm saying that if we stay in this house much longer, we both might be changed for the worse; these ghosts, spirits, whatever they are aren't like any of the villains we've ever faced Vel, they could hurt us, or kill us" Shaggy replied, his tone becoming increasingly frightened and nervous as he spoke.

"Hmm… you know Shaggy, I think I do understand what you're saying" Velma remarked.

"Like I knew you would; that's why you're my girlfriend after all" Shaggy replied, hugging the young woman as he spoke.

"Naturally; I think what you were saying is that the spirits of the house might try and capture us, or make us ghosts and force us to join the spirits of the mansion in haunting this place against our will, so we need to locate the others, and then make our way out of here before its too late, right?" Velma explained, with a question of her own; although the way she described things and asked her question made Shaggy shake in sheer terror.

"L-like did you have to explain it like that?" Shaggy asked, shivering a bit as he spoke.

"Sorry, I guess I over analyzed it; but when you get right down to it, that's what we're facing and we need to escape this mansion once and for all" Velma replied.

"Right, although I'm afraid my nerves are getting the better of me; matter of fact, they feel like they're completely shot" Shaggy remarked, trying to hold himself steady.

"Mine would be too if I had to go through what you're going through right now; now come on, I want to…" Velma replied before stopping in mid-sentence.

"Like what's wrong Vel, why did you stop?" Shaggy asked, holding onto her shoulders as if his and her lives both depended on it.

"That closet over there, there's something suspicious about it, I just can't put my finger on it" Velma replied, pointed to an old closet in the corner of the room.

"Velma, it's just a closet, it probably just has clothes in it; now let's get out of here before its too late" Shaggy remarked, trying to pull her out of the room and away from looking at the closet.

"Not so fast Shaggy, I want to look inside there for clues; besides, there might be something important in there" Velma replied.

"Like what? A ghost's clothes? Come on Velma, I don't want to stay in here any longer, besides this room is giving me the creeps" Shaggy responded.

"Not so fast Shaggy; I want to examine that closet before we leave the room" Velma replied.

"All right, if you insist on it; but I'm going to be right behind you, just in case, and if it is a ghost, I'll pull you away faster then you can say Big Mac" Shaggy remarked.

"Thank you Shaggy, that's very brave of you to offer; but I don't think I'll need any help" Velma replied.

"Well, I'll still be here if you need me" Shaggy remarked.

"And I wouldn't have it any other way; now come on, and stay close behind me" Velma explained.

"OK, I'm right here" Shaggy said, keeping his hands on Velma's shoulders.

The bespectacled orange sweater clad young woman then slowly walked over to the closet door, with her companion behind her of course; she slowly turned the knob to the left and the closet door opened with a click, Velma then turned on the flashlight, and played it among the walls and hangars contained inside. However, only after a few minutes of searching, her flashlight happened upon one of the most gruesome and horrible sights she or Shaggy had ever seen for that matter.

"No, no! It can't be possible, I-it just can't!" the normally calm and brave Velma Dinkley shouted, her mouth agape with a look of absolute terror and fright on her face.

Normally Velma was the smartest member of the group, and was never afraid of the ghosts or monsters the gang faced, unless they were particularly terrifying; but this, this was one of those rare cases where the brains of Mystery Inc., became the coward of the group. Upon looking at the gruesome sight in the closet, her brain overloaded and she simply fainted into Shaggy's arms, who happened to be right behind her and was ready to catch her, which he did.

"Velma? Velma are you okay? Oh dear, I knew this would happen; something terrified her so much it just overcame her and she fainted" Shaggy said, trying to revive the young woman, somehow, someway.

"Velma, Vel? Say something, anything! Just please don't leave me like this" the sandy haired young man said, tearing up as he spoke; luckily, someone liked him because at the sound of his voice, the young woman began stirring and looked up only to see Shaggy holding her.

She smiled at this sight, and continued smiling as the young man helped her back to her feet, although she was still woozy after her encounter, so Shaggy held the young woman's shoulder and helped keep her steady as he tried to ask her what she had seen that was so terrifying that would cause her to faint the way she did.

"Velma, Velma? Are you okay sweetie?" Shaggy asked, using one of the pet names he liked to call her during their dates, or just any time for that matter.

"Mmm… I think so; Shaggy, is that you?" Velma answered, still unsure of what was going on.

"Sure is; but a better question would be are you okay? And what on earth happened when you opened the closet to make you fall like that?" Shaggy wondered, as he posed questions to his girlfriend.

"I'm not sure; all I remember is opening up the closet, and seeing a…" Velma replied, before she resumed clinging to the young man's shoulder like an affectionate pet.

"Seeing a what Velma, what did you see in there?" Shaggy asked.

"I saw… I saw a skeleton" Velma replied, with her face now buried in Shaggy's shoulder, clearly not wanting to look at the closet or anything else except the young man who held her aloft.

"Well, a lot of people see skeletons in haunted houses, I don't understand why you would faint at the sight of that though" Shaggy responded.

"Well this skeleton was different; this skeleton… oh, I'm too scared to even say it" Velma said, utterly refusing to turn back to where the closet was, which Shaggy was still confused about, although judging by the look on her face, he could sure tell why she didn't want to look back at where she had been looking only a few minutes ago.

"Say what? What was so scary about a skeleton anyway?" Shaggy wondered.

"It wasn't just that there was a skeleton in the closet, it was the fact that, well, that the skeleton was fully dressed, in a suit, pants, and loafers, not to mention the skeleton was wearing a tie, and it looked almost as if the skin and flesh had been taken off the bones before someone put the skeleton in the closet in the first place; it was horrible, it was awful..." Velma explained as she began tearing up, while her face remained buried in Shaggy's shoulder.

"Wow, and I thought Scooby and I had seen some scary stuff in the past; but man, that tops everything, now I know why you fainted and didn't want to see the skeleton any longer then you did" Shaggy replied, trying to console Velma by patting her softly on the back as she continued sobbing into the shoulder part of Shaggy's t-shirt.

"Uh-huh; believe me, that skeleton was one of the scariest sights I had ever seen in my life, in fact I think the sight of it's going to give me nightmares for months to come or years for that matter" Velma softly said, raising her head a bit to look up at Shaggy's face.

"Well don't worry Velma; I'm not going to let anything, especially not a creepy old skeleton with clothes hurt you" Shaggy replied, taking Velma's chin and raising it up softly as he reassured her that he was always going to be there to protect her.

"Thanks Shaggy; you know you're a wonderful guy, and whatever I did to get you as my boyfriend, I would do it all over again" Velma remarked, signaling for him to let go of her head so that she could kiss him, which she did, right on the cheek as a matter of fact.

"Like you're welcome Velma; although, now that you saw that skeleton, I think we had better get out of here right away, before he tries to come after us" Shaggy replied.

"For once Shaggy, I agree with you; come on, let's get the heck out of here and see if we can find Fred, Daphne, Scooby and Scrappy" Velma responded, taking the young man's hand as together the two of them walked towards the door.

"Right Velma; although I wonder if the rest of the gang has found any surprises" Shaggy replied, as the pair of sleuths walked back into the hallway, after the sandy haired young man closed the door behind him.

Shaggy and Velma both hoped that their encounter, or rather Velma's encounter with the fully clothed skeleton would be their last encounter with spooks, ghosts or monsters during their time at the haunted mansion, in addition to naturally wanting to put their ordeal behind them.

However, the spirits and darkness that inhabited the mysterious mansion had other ideas, and would wait to make its presence known to Velma and Shaggy, as well as the rest of Mystery Inc., but not now; instead the strange forces that inhabited the mansion would hold off until the gang was all together, in order to strike them all at once, and make them think twice about solving the strange mystery of the house's history.

Author's Notes: Sorry about taking so long in finishing this chapter; I had a few computer issues, as well as the normal not remembering or figuring out anything to write in this story. But rest assured I am back, and continuing to write, and believe me, I have a lot planned for Scooby Doo and the gang in the last few chapters of this fan fic.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

A beautiful red haired young woman dressed in purple, and a blond haired strapping young man walked through a dark, damp and creepy looking tunnel, hoping for someway out, or some semblance of light. Anything that would give them a chance to escape the mysterious secret passage which they had found behind a bookcase in a library, and so far led them through a long, seemingly endless corridor filled with dust, cobwebs, a few bats flying around their heads, and other assorted surprises.

The red head was Daphne Blake, heiress to the Blake family fortune and member of Mystery Inc., a detective agency that specialized in solving supernatural and paranormal mysteries. Of course that was in her spare time, as the young woman had a paying job, in this case it was a freelance writer for a few magazines, but mostly the young woman wrote articles for a teen magazine, and a fashion magazine.

In addition to the previously mentioned publications, Daphne wrote mysteries, some of which were based on her and the rest of Mystery Inc.'s past adventures, slightly changed of course. The young man she was with in the secret passageway, whose name was Fred Jones, also shared her interests, mainly writing, specifically Fred wrote articles on a freelance basis for sports magazines and a few mysteries among other things.

Although Fred had more experience in writing mysteries then Daphne did, both of them enjoyed their writing careers, and both of them had a whale of a time coming up with new mysteries, new villains and new books that his loyal fans bought like hot cakes, ditto with Daphne of course.

Right now though, the blond young man and his red haired companion's thoughts were far away from creating fictional mysteries, partly because the two of them were in the midst of trying to solve a real life mystery. One that featured among other things, a haunted mansion, possibly real and evil ghosts, and the disappearance of April Larson, the wife of a millionaire who made his fortune in the communications industry named Franklin Larson, and the father of a young woman named Kelly Larson, whom Fred had already been acquainted with earlier in the evening.

While Fred, Shaggy and Scooby had already been already acquainted with the young heiress, Daphne and Velma were somewhat out of the loop as it were when it came to Kelly Larson. But because of Kelly's rather friendly personality, and what she did when she met Fred, Shaggy and Scooby previously, the blond haired young man preferred to keep his encounter with his fellow blonde under wraps as it were.

"Boy, this secret passage seems to go on forever" Daphne said, huffing and puffing like the big bad wolf, staying close behind Fred all the while.

"Oh come on Daph, it doesn't seem like that; does it?" Fred answered with a question.

"Of course it does, we might be stuck exploring this secret passageway for the rest of our lives" Daphne replied, deciding to rest her head for a few minutes on Fred's shoulder no less.

"Daphne, you and I both know that secret passageways don't go on forever, they have to end somewhere" Fred responded.

"Well, yes I know that, and you know that, but does the person who built this passageway know that?" Daphne asked.

"Somehow I don't think anyone knew that this secret passageway was here; almost as if it was built into the house when it was built" Fred replied.

"Hmm... I think I understand what you're saying Freddie; I mean we did find a lot of information about the house when we were in the library, but I couldn't really say if this passageway was built into the house or not" Daphne answered.

"Very true Daphne; although from what we've seen in this house and of this house so far, I wouldn't be surprised if it was" Fred replied, albeit with a somewhat tentative look on his face.

Daphne didn't see the young adult's facial expression at first, but when Fred Jones' pace down the hallway became quicker; the red head couldn't help but quicken her pace and catch up with her boyfriend and companion, which took her mere moments. Once she caught up with Fred, she placed her hand on the young man's right shoulder and hoped to elicit a response from him as she stood patiently and smiled.

"Freddie, why did you speed up? It seems like you're in a hurry to get out of here" Daphne said with a brief chuckle.

Fred didn't answer Daphne right away, as it seemed that he had other things on his mind besides what his companion had to say, which was perplexing to her. Daphne Blake knew that Fred liked her, loved her for that matter and whenever he wouldn't speak to her; it was almost as if he was ignoring her, something that Daphne hated, no matter how long she lived. So, with no other real alternative, the red head decided to try and get through to her boyfriend yet again, hoping for better results this time.

"Freddie, Freddie please talk to me, say something" Daphne said, urging the young man to speak to her, which would thereby break his silence.

"Shh! Quiet!" Fred said turning around and holding his left index finger to his lips, signifying Daphne to not say anything, at least, not yet.

A few painful minutes passed between the pair of sleuths, which to Daphne seemed like decades However, the red head couldn't stand the suspense, and couldn't handle the silence between the two of them, so she decided to ask her companion why he wanted her not to talk, at least temporarily.

"Fred, what's going on? Why did you stop talking?" Daphne inquired.

"Shh, listen" Fred responded, motioning towards the area of the passageway behind them.

Daphne took her friend's advice and listened intently to where her companion was motioning towards, but didn't hear anything for a few minutes. Unfortunately, that wouldn't last for long, as soon she heard what sounded like a fluttering noise in the very same corridor as the two of them were currently in, not to mention it sounded as if the noise was getting closer and closer to the pair of detectives.

Soon, the noise increased in volume, which left Fred and Daphne holding each other in comfort, and perhaps, perhaps both of them were holding each other because one of them was just as scared of the noise as the other. Finally, the source of the noise entered the line of sight of the blond and the redhead, but when it did, it caused the two of them a slight bit of discomfort as the pair could see winged creatures flying right above their very heads.

"Jeepers, bats!" Daphne shrieked, waving her arms above her head while trying to shoo away the winged intruders.

"Man, first a secret passageway, and now bats. I wonder what's coming next?" Fred asked, to no one in particular as he also tried to shoo the winged creatures away from he and his companion.

"Well whatever it is, I just hope its not as bad as bats" Daphne replied.

"I agree Daph, I agree" Fred responded.

After managing to get the bats off the pair's trail, the red head and the blond returned to trying to figure a way out of the passageway, and possibly finding daylight as well. But before they could find a way out of the corridor, the pair were going to have another unwelcome visitor, only this time their visitor was going to be a lot larger then a mere group of bats.

As the two of them walked along, Fred and Daphne began feeling as if they were being watched by some unknown force, or some mysterious presence. They both knew that it wasn't bats, as they had been inundated with those creatures minutes before, and it was a safe bet that those beings were going to leave the two sleuths alone for now.

But still, Fred and to a lesser extent Daphne, couldn't help but shake the feeling that someone, or something was keeping track of them, and was getting ready to make its presence known to the pair. The red head's mind at the moment only on one track, and that was to make sure she and Fred made it out of the passageway alive, but something told her that she and her boyfriend might need to make a hasty exit.

Naturally this fact was something that Daphne wanted to inform Fred Jones about, so she softly tapped on his shoulder to try and get his attention. Of course Fred's mind was also on escaping the passageway, but once he felt Daphne's tapping, he turned around and faced her, hoping she didn't have anything to tell him that was upsetting, considering what had happened so far.

"What's up Daph? You look... nervous, maybe scared" Fred explained, holding her shoulders as he spoke.

"I'm not sure Freddie, but I really think someone's in the corridor with us. I know it sounds really silly and ridiculous, but I really believe we're not alone in this passageway." Daphne replied.

"But Daphne, how could someone be here with us? Well, besides those bats of course" Fred responded.

"I'm serious, something, or some one wants or means to harm us. Why would I make this up if it wasn't true?" Daphne asked, looking deep into her companion's eyes as she spoke.

It was something in the red head's eyes that told the whole story to Fred Jones. Something deep within those blue piercing pools of water told him that she was telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, to borrow a legal cliché; so, having all the faith in the world in the beautiful red head, the unofficial leader of Mystery Inc. decided to respond to Daphne's comments.

"Daphne, I've known you for a long time, since we were little kids as a matter of fact, and during all the mysteries that we've been through with the rest of the gang, I've never known you to be wrong; at least not very many times" Fred remarked.

"Fred" Daphne replied, with an impatient tone in her voice.

"OK, OK, so you're not wrong at all. But in any case, I believe you now, I definitely think there's something in this hallway, or some one" Fred responded.

"Are you just saying that to make me feel better, or do you really mean that?" Daphne inquired.

"I'm saying that because I really mean it Daphne. Why would I say it if it wasn't true?" Fred replied, which left Daphne with a bit of a smile on her face.

"You just said the same thing that I did a few minutes ago" Daphne answered, relaxing a bit as she allowed her boyfriend to put his arms around her.

"I know I did; I guess all that time I've spent with you is paying off" Fred replied, smiling as well, while Daphne came closer into his arms.

"I guess it is" Daphne responded, somewhat simply though as not many words needed to be said in this situation.

"So, I guess that's means we're really becoming a lot alike huh?" Fred asked.

"Yeah, I do believe that's what it means" Daphne replied.

"Daphne" Fred stated.

"Yes Freddie?" Daphne asked, still smiling as her companion held her in his strong muscular arms.

"I love you" Fred replied.

"I know, and you know why?" Daphne inquired.

"I think I know the answer to this but why don't you remind me just to make sure I know" Fred replied.

"Well, I love you because you're so polite, so friendly, so handsome and so strong" Daphne answered.

"I figured that. And you know why I love you?" Fred responded.

"No, but I have a feeling you're going to tell me" Daphne replied.

"I know, and I will. I love you because you're so beautiful, so smart, and most of all the best girlfriend in the world, how does that sound?" Fred responded, with a question of his own.

"Sounds perfectly fine to me Freddie, it sounds perfectly fine to me" Daphne replied, as she and Fred Jones snuggled close into one another's arms.

Of course snuggling soon led to hugging, and hugging inevitably led to the red head and the blond's faces moving closer to one another, and before long Fred and Daphne's faces were only a few feet apart. And not too long after that, Fred Jones and Daphne Blake took the next step after hugging and snuggling, which of course was kissing; needless to say Fred and Daphne's kiss was one of love and devotion, plus a little bit of passion mixed in as well.

The two of them had been engaged in their kiss for a few minutes before they decided to break apart. Not because they didn't like kissing, or not because they weren't in love, it was because Freddie and Daphne had to resume their search for an exit from the secret passageway behind the bookcase in Larson Mansion's library, and judging by what had happened to the two of them so far, they needed to find an exit soon.

So with newfound devotion and love in each other's eyes and hearts, the two of them resumed walking down the corridor. However, just as Daphne had felt earlier, and that Fred had confirmed a few minutes ago, the two of them soon began to sense a strange presence with them in the corridor; this presence seemed to unnerve Daphne. But because Fred was, or seemed to much braver, he wasn't too unnerved by it, at first that is.

But because the two of them had a great sense of when danger was about to strike, and when a villain was going to attempt something to try and stop the duo's to leave a scary or spooky place, they both found themselves watching every step they made. Not only did they watch themselves with every step they made, but they also watched their surroundings as well, watching out for anything out of the ordinary, or anything that might be considering to be a threat to them.

Needless to say, if they found anything in either category, they would run like the wind and would probably not look back to see if anything or anyone was following them. Unfortunately for them, this would be a decision that they would soon live to regret, if they managed to get out of the secret passageway at all; just as before, in fact almost as if it was a carbon copy of what had happened earlier, Fred and Daphne began hearing unusual noises somewhere in the corridor.

But this time, the noises weren't the flittering or fluttering sounds the pair of adolescent sleuths had heard already; this time the sounds and noises seemed almost a thousand times louder then any noise or sound that a bat would make. For this time around, Fred and Daphne began hearing a noise that was close in proximity to the sound of some one walking of all things, but it wasn't a normal walk, or at least not any walk that the red head and the blond had ever heard or seen before.

Normally when someone walked down a street, a road, or in this case a secret passageway, they made normal footsteps; which meant that the footsteps were the shoes hitting the dirt, pavement or whatever surface the person was walking on. But in this case, the footsteps certainly weren't like that at all; these footsteps were louder, seemingly making a deeper impact on the ground, almost pounding the surface as the person walked, which made Daphne and Fred very nervous, despite trying to stay calm in very trying circumstances.

The sound of pounding footsteps grew louder and louder as they slowly approached Fred and Daphne, even though the two of them couldn't see who was making them. The two sleuths/lovebirds then held each other close, realizing that this might just be the end and that whoever or whatever was making the mysterious pounding footsteps could very well be a danger to both of them, and quite possibly could do them great harm.

Thump, Thump, Thump; that was the sound Daphne and Fred continued to hear as the two of them were besieged by the unearthly footsteps that were inching closer and closer to the two of them. The wealthy redhead's teeth then began to chatter as she, along with her boyfriend waited for whatever the source was of the strange footsteps to come to them; naturally Daphne's mind and heart were racing, she really wanted nothing more then for the source of the footsteps to accomplish whatever it had set out to do.

The very darkness itself seemed to cover and hide every inch of the corridor, in addition to hiding the cobwebs, dust and whatever other surprises the passageway held, which Fred and Daphne hoped were very little. The red head and the blond held their breaths, as every passing second seemed to be more like an hour, more like an eternity in terms of waiting, watching for something, anything, to make a move; it was almost as if the force that was in the hallway was toying with Fred and Daphne, taking its time in approaching the two sleuths.

"Freddie?" Daphne asked, holding her blond companion's shoulders and shaking like a leaf as she stood in the corridor.

"Yes Daphne?" Fred answered, turning slightly to face the beautiful redhead.

"If something happens and we don't make it out of this corridor, promise me something" Daphne stated.

"Yes? What is it?" Fred answered, now gently holding the red head's hands as she spoke.

"Promise me that whatever you do, you'll always think of me" Daphne replied.

"I promise Daphne, I promise" Fred responded with a smile on his face.

"Thank you Freddie, that means a lot to me" Daphne replied.

The longer she spent with Fred, the more she realized that he would never do anything to harm her, and that he truly was prefect for her. He was truly her Prince Charming and would do anything to protect her and keep her from falling into dangerous situations during mysteries, or during life; but as the two stood in the corridor, surrounded by dirt, spider webs and assorted bugs, the pair's thoughts weren't on whether the two of them would protect one another.

Instead, Fred and Daphne's thoughts were on whether or not the source of the footsteps was going to find them, and if it did, how long would it take. For as every second that the two of them waited passed, the red head and the blond were privy to every waking moment being full of terror, which seemed to rattle the pair's nerves. Naturally an event or occurrence such as the two of them were experiencing now would rattle someone's nerves; but it was even more nerve rattling because Fred and Daphne were detectives, and should have been used to this sort of thing by now.

The footsteps became louder and louder, increasing in sound as they came closer and closer to the two young adults. However, something seemed to be different about the footsteps; now the footsteps seemed to echo throughout the corridor, which made Fred and Daphne even more afraid, as they had no idea what kind of ghost or monsters possessed, at least not yet.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of waiting, Fred and Daphne continued to hold each other close as the source of the deep, resonating footsteps was about to make its appearance. As the red head and the blond stood in fear of what was coming, they saw what looked to be a large shadow on the walls of the corridor; naturally they didn't know what was coming, and as they waited for the shadow to come closer, the two of them secretly wished whatever was coming would hurry up, because the two of them couldn't stand the agony and pain of waiting for some creature to come to scare them, possibly even half to death as well.

The strange shadow slowly crept along the walls of the passageway, lurching and what looked to be dragging itself towards Fred and Daphne, as the pair's nerves were now officially frayed more then an old yellowed document from a hundred years ago. Shaking and shivering at the sight of the shadow, the unofficial leader of Mystery Inc. and his girlfriend were now more terrified then at any moment in their detective careers. Even more so then when they visited Moonscar Island and had to deal with real life Cat Creatures and Zombies, as this time the threat was unknown, but very real and very scary.

After a few minutes passed, which to the two sleuths seemed like hours, months or possibly even decades, the mysterious shadow that had been plaguing the pair for several minutes since they spotted it was now only one hundred feet away from them. It was then that finally Fred and Daphne got an up close look for the first time at what had been making the increasingly creepy shadow that was displayed in the corridor; but what they saw was something that was more terrifying then any sight the two of them had ever seen before in their lives.

"Jeepers! Wh-wh-what is that?" Daphne said with a bit of a stammer in her voice, while trying somehow to keep herself calm, even though her eyes had set upon something more gruesome and more horrifying then anything normal or paranormal could ever be.

"Creepers! I-it's like nothing I've ever seen before" Fred added, not quite knowing what else to say in a situation like this.

The creeping shadow was now only seventy five feet away from the sleuthing duo, but once the two of them looked upon its horrible face, they could that they were clearly in trouble. Specifically speaking, the creature looked like something out of a late night horror movie, or a nightmare for that matter.

The creature's appearance also seemed to indicate that it could have possibly come out of a coffin or crypt somewhere, which meant that at sometime in the past(either recent or further back) that it was definitely a human being. Which of course meant that it quite possibly would or might have had a good life, when he or she was still alive of course; but now, the creature was dead and trying to scare Fred and Daphne out of their wits.

Besides the obvious, mainly that the creature was undead and had risen from the very Earth it was buried in, the strange being looked to have lost most of its hair. In addition, the hideous creature's skin looked also to have fallen off as well, or at least most of it had; to top off the horrible creature's appearance, its skin (or lack thereof) was currently a disgustingly grotesque shade of grey.

Normally this wouldn't be such a big deal to Fred and Daphne, but as they watched the creature advance on them, they could tell that it once had the skin of most likely someone who lived very well. Or at least someone who could afford to keep their skin in good condition, mainly keeping it the color white, or black, or any other shade of the aforementioned colors for that matter.

While most of the creature's skin had possibly fallen off its body, the red head and the blond could also tell that part of it (or however much of it that was left) was still hanging on, albeit by a very, very thin thread (metaphorically speaking of course).

As if the aforementioned maladies weren't bad enough, as the creature continued to approach the pair of sleuths, Fred and Daphne could see that he, it, or whatever the creature was happened to have its very bones sticking out from what appeared to be its stomach and lower abdomen. Or at least that's what the red haired writer and her companion thought as they stared, almost mesmerized into the face of what for all intensive purposes was the very representation of the living dead.

The strange creature slowly, almost patiently dragged its horrible looking body towards Fred and Daphne. The two of them could only watch in disgust as this living, breathing repulsive representation of the undead, or rather the living dead, or whatever it was advanced step by step, pounding its feet against the dirt of the passageway.

The hideous being's footsteps were now creating an echo that seemed to result in the very ground of the corridor shaking, similar to how buildings would react during an earthquake. But this certainly not an earthquake, it was man made, and very terrifying to Fred and Daphne; having seen this sort of creature before during the group's mysteries, the pair of journalists/detectives were able to instantly identify it, although as soon as they did so, they wished they hadn't, as it was now only ten feet away from them.

"Jeepers, th-that creature is a zombie!" Daphne shrieked, almost blowing out Fred's eardrums as she tried to hide her surprise and shock at seeing a real life, or undead as it were, creature like the very one that was now within shouting distance of the pair.

"Daphne, I don't know how to say this, but I think you're right. That, that thing is indeed a zombie! But what is it doing here?" Fred responded, with a question of his own.

"I-I don't know" Daphne replied nervously.

The gruesome looking zombie, which Fred and Daphne only found out a few moments ago was a zombie as a matter of fact, was slowly approaching the red head and the blond. As the two adolescent sleuths/writers tried backing up to escape from the gruesome looking zombie, the two of them cringed as the creature raised its arms in front of it and opened its mouth, almost as if to say something to the two of them.

But instead of saying something to Fred Jones and Daphne Blake, the zombie opened its mouth and began roaring and breathing on the pair, making them cringe a bit at the monster's breath. After he opened his mouth, the two adolescents began to get the full force and breadth of his breath as it were; as a matter of fact, the monster's breath seemed to be a combination of several of the most unpleasant odors known to man, or woman for that matter.

In this case, the zombie's breath felt like a mixture of rotten eggs, moldy bananas, car exhaust and who knows what other horrid materials were blended into the creature's breath. Although Daphne felt her hair beginning to wilt as the creature continued to breathe its horrible odors onto her, the red head knew deep within her brain that she needed to get herself and her companion out of the corridor immediately.

"Freddie" Daphne remarked, continuing to back away from the zombie with her hands held in front of her in somewhat self defense as she spoke.

"Yes Daphne?" Fred answered.

"I think we better get out of here before that zombie decides he wants a girlfriend, or decides he wants a late snack" Daphne replied.

"I think you're right Daphne, come on, let's get out of here!" Fred added, taking the attractive red head's hand as he spoke.

The unofficial leader of Mystery Inc. and his red haired companion then took off like a pair of 4th of July rockets, trying to escape the hideous zombie as quick as humanly possible, which they both hoped wouldn't take very long. Running at top speed, the two adolescents almost gave the zombie whiplash, considering the pace at which they took off; the zombie though was about as fast and managed to follow closely behind them, which Fred and Daphne noticed, as they just couldn't shake the zombie no matter how hard they tried.

"Faster Daphne, faster! He's going to catch us if we don't speed up!" Fred declared, hoping his red haired girlfriend could keep pace with him as he ran.

"I'm trying Freddie, I'm trying; but it's not easy in these shoes" Daphne answered.

"If we don't escape that creep, you won't have to worry about shoes or any clothing for that matter, because we both might be dead" Fred replied, with a great amount of urgency in his voice.

"Good point Freddie, just call me an Olympic sprinter, because I'm gone!" Daphne quipped, as she and the blond haired young man continued running down the corridor just as fast as they both could go.

Within the next couple of minutes, Fred and Daphne managed to escape the hideous zombie as they ended up running all the way through the corridor and were now in front of what looked to be a large metal door, or more specifically what appeared to be a large brass door. Naturally the two of them were very curious about this and decided to investigate what the door was and what might be behind it, even if it was another monster or something that would scare the two of them greatly.

While the red head and the blond were trying to open the large brass door in order to see what was behind it, the mysterious and frightening zombie had fallen behind the pair of sleuths and was oddly enough not following them. But what was odd about this, was what the zombie said(albeit out of earshot of Fred and Daphne of course); because he had been growling and acting like a zombie before, he didn't sound much like a human when he was chasing the two sleuths.

But at the moment, he did sound very human, perhaps somewhat familiar, which was too bad in Fred and Daphne's case. Because if they did hear what the zombie was saying, the two of them might have gotten a good clue to the mysterious happenings in Larson Mansion and possibly could have gotten to the bottom of Mrs. Larson's disappearance. But alas, they had decided to run, and could not hear what the creature was saying, which could have been very important.

"Man, those two took off like bullets; serves them right, they should know better then to stick their noses into other people's business" a mysterious male voice said, albeit coming from the mouth of the zombie.

If Fred Jones and Daphne Blake had only stuck around for a few more minutes, they might have heard the zombie speak, and could have received a valuable clue to the gang's current mystery. But they did not and as a result, a solution to the mystery behind Larson Mansion would take a long way to come, rather then be resolved easily and quickly; back at the other end of the corridor, the red head and the blond were still trying to figure out how they could open the brass door. But in order to do so, one of them needed to come up with a fairly ingenious idea, and soon.

"This door is either stuck, welded shut or just won't open. But whatever reason why it won't budge, it's really annoying" Fred remarked, pulling on the handle of the large door without much success.

"Hmm... This seems to be a theme of our investigation of the mansion; this is the second locked door we've found" Daphne replied.

"Second?" Fred inquired.

"Sure, we tried to get out of the library earlier but we couldn't open the door, unfortunately" Daphne responded.

"True, very true; so, any ideas on how to open that humongous brass door?" Fred replied.

"I think I do, but I might have to think for a second" Daphne answered, placing a finger to her lip and with a look of deep concentration on her face. After a few moments, something inside the red head's brain clicked and she came up with an idea that she figured would be perfect for this particular situation.

"Fred, I think we're going to get to see what's behind that door very soon" the red head commented.

"We are? How Daphne?" Fred replied with a question.

"Simple Freddie" Daphne answered, before reaching up into her hair and taking out a small hairpin.

"Um Daphne, how is a hairpin going to help us?" Fred asked, looking with curiosity on his face at the small metal object the red head was carrying.

"Easy Freddie; even though I left my purse in the bedroom, I can still be pretty ingenious with just a small hairpin" Daphne replied.

"That was pretty simple Daphne, good luck" Fred remarked.

Daphne then reached over towards the door and inserted her hairpin into the lock; the red head then jiggled said lock with the hairpin for a few moments before managing to get it unlocked a few seconds later. With a sense of accomplishment in her heart and a smile on her face, Daphne Blake opened the large brass door and prepared to see just what was behind it and just what she and her boyfriend were about to get themselves into.

Author's Notes: Sorry for the incredibly long time it took to write this chapter; I had some computer problems for a while, so I didn't get a chance to write much for a period of about two weeks. Also, this story might or might not be extended a couple of chapters, depending on whether or not I have more ideas and other factors; in addition, I know this might seem like a weird way to end a chapter, but I figured it would work out pretty well.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

The wealthy and fashionable red head named Daphne Blake slowly, and with a great amount of anxiousness prepared to delve into the unknown and unseen that awaited the red head and her male companion. In this case, the unknown and unseen was whatever waited behind a large, heavy brass door at the end of a corridor inside the apparently haunted Larson Mansion, which was located about fifty or so miles way from Daphne and her companion's hometown of Coolsville, Ohio.

Daphne and her companion, Fred Jones, a blond haired freelance writer(much like herself) were somewhat professionals when it came to the unknown, considering they were amateur detectives. However, even professionals had things that they were unsure of, and things that if confronted would cause them to seriously consider a change in careers; in Fred and Daphne's cases, it was everything that had happened to them since they first arrived at the mansion.

The red head and the blond, as well as their friends, had been presented with what on the surface would seem like an easy challenge. Mainly, spend the night on the grounds of a haunted mansion where a wealthy businessman, his wife and his daughter lived, without calling for help, or leaving the premises and collect a check for one million dollars, for each member that is.

But as time went on, Fred, Daphne and the rest of their fellow sleuths in Mystery Inc. were realizing that quite possibly their current mystery might just be way over their heads. So far while the gang had been on the premises, they had been confronted with a zombie, a fully clothed skeleton that was hung in a closet, not to mention the disappearances of both the wealthy businessman and his wife.

Despite all of this, and all the challenges the group had faced so far in the mansion, they wanted to make sure to wrap up the mystery and leave the Larson Mansion premises before anything else happened to them. After placing a small hairpin in the lock of a large, brass door, the red head was able to unlock it and before long opened it, which enabled her and Fred to enter a dark, spooky looking room.

Once the two of them entered the room, both sleuths noticed that even though there was no light inside it, they felt as if they could see everything it featured. Naturally this fact made them both a bit nervous, although to tell the truth, as the two of them tried to get used to walking around the room without light, it wasn't very hard to do so.

As a matter of fact, it seemed as if the darkness wasn't very dark at all. However, a few moments after Fred and Daphne entered the room, they could hear the distinct sound of the brass door closing behind them, sealing them in whatever room they were currently inside. Now, with their ability to leave the room cut off, Fred and Daphne had no other choice but to explore the room they found themselves inside, whatever it might be, or whatever it contained for that matter.

"Jeepers, it's certainly gloomy in here isn't it?" Daphne asked, holding on to Fred's arm as she spoke.

"I have to admit that this place definitely would qualify as just that Daphne. Problem is since we're in the dark, I have no idea what we're looking for, or if we'll find anything" the blond writer replied.

"Don't you have something that can give us some more light, other then what we currently have right now?" the red head inquired.

"I might Daphne, but I would have to look" Fred replied.

Following his companion's advice, Fred then began to look through the pockets of his blue jeans in order to see if did indeed have something to provide more light for the duo. After rifling through his pockets for a few minutes, the blond had a look on his face of happiness and accomplishment as he managed to grasp something metal, or at least that's what Fred figured as he brought the object out of his pocket.

"Hey, what do you know about that. Look what I found Daph" the unofficial leader of Mystery Inc. said as he held the object in his hands.

"Looks like a mini flashlight. Wait… it is a mini flashlight! Way to go Freddie!" Daphne exclaimed, realizing that her boyfriend had managed to save the day, at least for now. Of course right after her exclamation, Daphne proceeded to run over to Fred Jones and throw her arms around his neck, before kissing him repeatedly on the cheek and all over his face.

"Daph, I-I didn't know you had that in you" Fred replied, a bit stunned at the red head's continuous display of affection towards him.

"I guess I can do things that can surprise you sometimes Freddie, or surprise me for that matter." Daphne remarked, smiling at him.

"Like how you can make disguises out of a makeup kit, and can open a door with stuff from your purse right?" Fred asked.

"Exactly" Daphne replied.

"Well, I know one thing; it doesn't matter if you surprise me, because I still love you" Fred responded.

"And the same goes for me Freddie" Daphne replied, with a significantly large smile on her face.

"Naturally" Fred responded.

"Well, now that we're done with that, let's figure out where we are and what we're up against" Daphne replied.

"Right Daph" Fred answered.

With that, the blond journalist and writer held his mini flashlight aloft, while he played the small beam along the walls of the dank, dark room, in hopes of shining some light on the subject of where the duo was, if you'll pardon the pun. While the two of them were happy to have some extra illumination, especially in such a dark room, Daphne was still somewhat confused as to why she hadn't seen Fred with a flashlight before a few minutes ago.

So, in true reporter fashion, the red head decided to ask Fred how he acquired said item, and just why he hadn't mentioned he had it until this point and time.

"Um Freddie" Daphne inquired.

"What's up Daphne?" Fred responded.

"I didn't know you had a flashlight with you. Why didn't you tell me that before we entered the corridor?" Daphne replied, with a question of her own.

"Well, I didn't know I had it then. I guess I must have put it in my blue jeans pocket before we left the bedrooms." Fred answered.

"Fair enough" Daphne replied.

"Sure; so, shall we have a look around?" Fred asked, although the red head definitely knew the answer to that particular question.

"I think we better" Daphne replied, giving the blond young man the answer he figured he was going to get from her.

"Right" Fred responded.

Having figured out what they were now going to do, Daphne and Fred began looking around the strange room, still not quite realizing what the two of them were up against, or what terrors lurked in the darkness. Although once Fred played his flashlight over towards the middle of the room, he and Daphne were about to find out just exactly what they were up against, and what monsters were hiding from them.

The blond haired writer/journalist's flashlight was now shining on what looked to be a rectangular shaped box, or possibly it was a container of some sort. But one thing was for certain, Daphne and Fred knew that it was rectangular and that something was probably inside it; walking closer to the container, and with the light now on top of it, the pair of sleuths began to recognize what exactly this container was, and especially its purpose.

"Jeepers, Fred that's a coffin" the red head said in a whispering tone of voice.

"A coffin? That can't be a coffin. Partly because those are usually made of wood, and this looks to be made of stone, or something similar" her companion replied.

"But remember all those times in the past we've seen coffins? Some of them are made of stone" Daphne interjected.

"True; maybe the Larsons are wealthy enough to have stone coffins" Fred replied.

"I don't doubt that; the only problem is why is there a coffin in here, unless this is some kind of mausoleum or family cemetery or something" Daphne commented.

"That is entirely possible. Maybe I should check to see what else is in here, or if there are any other surprises we might encounter while we're here." Fred replied.

"Good idea Freddie. I would hate to be in here if some ghost or creep pops up and scares me half to death." Daphne responded.

"Ditto for me Daph" Fred replied.

Daphne then took Fred's arm and together the two of them walked towards the coffin with a great amount of curiosity on their minds, and a look of inquisitiveness on both of their faces. The two of them were about to examine the coffin further when the blond unofficial leader noticed something out of the corner of his eye that was very mysterious to say the least.

"Daphne, take a look at this" Fred explained, aiming his flashlight at what looked to be a large red spot on the floor, about fifty feet away from where the coffin was.

"Jeepers, what is that?" the red head inquired.

"If it's what I think it is, then we might have a major clue as to what happened to Mrs. Larson" Fred replied, while secretly hoping the spot on the floor wasn't something that might be found in a murder mystery novel.

"I really hope it's not what you think it is Freddie." Daphne responded, standing behind the blond haired writer as she spoke, while holding his shoulder in a somewhat scared manner.

"Well we'll soon see if that's true. See that big spot on the ground, look at it carefully" Fred replied.

"OK, I'm looking, but I don't know why I need to look at it really carefully" Daphne responded, keeping her eyes on the large spot.

"It's simple really, start with that spot and then work your way to the right, back towards the coffin" Fred replied.

"OK" Daphne said, complying with her companion's request. The red head then turned her eyes to the right, making sure her eyesight kept an exactly straight line from the large spot to where the coffin was. After her eyes followed the large red blotch, she realized that Fred did have a point, and that there was a clue in following it via a straight line.

"I get it now, it looks like that large red spot on the ground leaves a sort of trail, and it ends right at the coffin" The red head remarked.

"Elementary my dear Daphne. Now, let's go see why there's a trail" Fred quipped, before taking the red head's hand. Together, the two of them walked the fifty or so feet over to the sides of the coffin, making sure not to track the red substance on the ground on their respective pairs of shoes.

"Now what Freddie? Daphne asked.

"Simple; there has to be someway to open the lid to this coffin, and unless I miss my guess, when we get it open we're going to find the source of that red spot" Fred responded.

"I wish we didn't have to, but I guess we don't have any choice." Daphne replied trying to give her companion the hint that she was a bit squeamish at the sight of blood, which there was a good chance of being in the coffin.

"I know, I don't like it anymore then you do, but we have to. For Mr. Larson's sake" Fred commented, although he was still unaware of what really happened to the man who called the gang to Larson Mansion in the first place.

"Right, for Mr. Larson" Daphne replied.

So with those words of encouragement between the two of them, Daphne and Fred split up. The red head walked over to the left side of the coffin, while the blond unofficial leader of the group of sleuths walked over to the right side. At about the same time, each of them grabbed a side of the coffin lid and prepared to slide it open, knowing that whatever was inside was sure to give them nightmares for decades to come.

"Ready Daph?" Fred asked.

"Ready Freddie" Daphne replied.

"OK then, on the count of three, lift the coffin lid down so it will open. One, two, three!" Fred explained, before he and his companion slowly slid the large stone coffin lid down, revealing the actual inside of the coffin, and its contents.

As expected, Fred and Daphne were shocked by its contents, a fact that was sealed when the container was opened. Because when the contents were revealed, Daphne quickly ran over to where Fred was standing at the side of the coffin and in a manner unlike her, hid behind him and began sobbing into his shoulder's. While this was going on, of course she was also trying to hide her eyes from viewing the gruesome sight that was before them.

"Jeepers, we're too late" Daphne said, through a tear streaked face as her boyfriend looked on in horror at the coffin, which featured a male body with blood completely covering his stomach, arms, legs and parts of his face as well.

"I hate to say it Daphne, but I think you're right. It's definitely Mr. Larson; well, now we know at least that he couldn't have made his wife disappear" Fred replied, while trying to comfort his companion, even though the detective in him seemingly couldn't be torn away from the coffin.

"I wonder how he died?" Daphne queried, trying to dry her eyes with a handkerchief Fred had stored in his pocket.

"Good question, but however or whatever way it was, it must have been fairly gruesome. Considering the large amount of blood on his body." Fred replied, trying to think of how their now former benefactor perished.

"Freddie please! I don't know if I want to hear about blood right now; I just want to get out of here with my life" Daphne responded in a bit of a quivering voice, while holding onto Fred's arm like a small child would hold onto a mother's arm, in this case it was mainly for protection. After all, seeing a body with blood splattered all over it would cause any girl or woman, no matter how brave she was to become a scared, blubbering mess.

"Right; something tells me we better get out of here before it's too late." Fred replied.

"Agreed, let's split!" Daphne responded, with a great amount of urgency in her voice.

The two sleuths then walked towards what they assumed was the door of the room they were currently in, and thanks to Fred's mini flashlight, they figured nothing could go wrong in their quest. unfortunately, that was not the case, as seconds before Fred and Daphne got to where the door was, and prepared to leave, a strange voice began speaking to them from somewhere in the room; strange, and possibly very familiar to them as well.

"So, you two think you can escape the family mausoleum eh?" the voice said, startling the two of them a bit.

The two of them were unsure at first of where the voice was coming from, or who the voice belonged to, but one thing was for sure, whoever or whatever it was, it wanted to keep the pair in the now identified Mausoleum for good.

"So that's where we are, the Larson family Mausoleum." Fred remarked, echoing what the voice had said to them.

"Excellent work young man. You just might have the makings of a young Sherlock Holmes; and your little companion seems to be a young Nancy Drew if I had to guess" the voice replied, seemingly impressed with Fred's knowledge.

"You leave Daphne out of this, whoever you are or wherever you are!" Fred responded, his voice raised several octaves as he spoke.

"Oh? And what if I refuse?" the voice inquired.

"Well, let's just say that I can't be responsible for what might happen if you even think about messing around with my girlfriend here" Fred replied, pulling Daphne close to him in a very protective manner.

"Right, we're a team and nothing's going to change that!" the red head added, almost verbally pointing a finger at the strange unseen voice.

"Well, I am impressed. The two of you seem to have a quality that I've never seen in anyone ever before. Or at least anyone that has ever set foot on the grounds of this mansion before" the voice replied.

"What do you mean by that? Who are you?" Fred asked.

"Yes, and why did you say something about the grounds of the mansion? Do you work here?" Daphne added.

"That's for me to know and you to find out. Oh, and speaking of which, I would hope that the two of you have made out a will; because neither of you will leave this mausoleum alive!" the voice replied, laughing in an almost satanic manner after it finished speaking.

"Just what do you mean by we won't leave this mausoleum alive?" Fred inquired.

"Exactly what I said; once my little friends get done with you two, you won't leave here alive" the voice replied, while his laughter echoed throughout the mausoleum after he spoke.

"What do you mean by your friends?" Fred wondered, although he really didn't want to know the answer to the question he just asked, considering he and Daphne were stuck inside a mausoleum, surrounded by coffins.

"For starters, take a look at the coffin with the body inside of it that you two were checking out a few minutes ago" the voice explained.

The pair's eyes were then diverted over to where the coffin was and noticed that they had forgotten to put the lid back on. Not only that, but also the blood soaked corpse was beginning to rise from the coffin and was now looking right at the two sleuths, which terrified them more then anything ever could.

"No! It can't be possible, Mr. Larson, is that you?" Daphne inquired, her eyes as wide as saucers staring at the blood stained body of the man who had been one of her father's friends, at least in life.

"Yes, it is I" Mr. Larson replied, after getting out of the coffin and standing in front of it.

"But, we saw you! We saw your corpse, how could you be walking and talking like this?" Fred asked, pointing a terrified finger at the now undead businessman.

"How could I be walking and talking? Well, obviously the two of you haven't had much experience with the supernatural as you have claimed. Otherwise, you probably would know about zombies, and the living dead!" Mr. Larson declared, laughing evilly as he spoke.

"The living dead? But how? We just saw you earlier in the night, how on earth could you be a member of the living dead?" Daphne asked, still holding onto Fred's arm as if her life depended on it.

"Funny thing about the living dead, and about this house. The evil forces that inhabit the grounds of the mansion are more powerful then you have ever dreamed of. They can turn a regular mortal into a living, breathing monster in a manner of seconds, or minutes, or hours for that matter." Mr. Larson replied.

"A monster? I don't believe it, there's no way a house can turn someone into a monster" Fred responded, still feeling as if there was something else the undead Mr. Larson wasn't telling them.

"Well, there is Mr. Jones. I suppose I should have told you that before you got here, or at the very least when you arrived in the mansion, so that you could have some warning. Now, you and Miss Blake must suffer the fate of everyone who comes into this mansion and spends any time on the grounds." Mr. Larson replied, beginning to laugh evilly once more.

"What fate are you talking about? And who was that voice that was speaking to us earlier?" Fred inquired.

"More then likely it's one of the many lost spirits that inhabit the mansion and the grounds. Probably telling you of your upcoming fate." Mr. Larson said simply.

"Jeepers" Daphne responded, shaking a bit at the thought of sprits talking to the pair of sleuths.

"I second that Daphne" Fred replied, in a bit of trembling tone of voice.

Even if he was the unofficial leader of Mystery Inc. and the bravest member of the group, there was something about seeing a blood stained corpse and then having a spirit talk to he and Daphne that was unnerving to Fred Jones. Sure, he and Daphne had seen some real life terrors in their lives as detectives, but those were nothing like what they were up against this time, because now they literally might not make it out of the Larson mausoleum the same way they came in.

"Oh, and speaking of spirits, I might want to let you know that my wife will soon be looking for your friends. I'm sure she would love to see Scrappy, Scooby, Velma and Shaggy squirm as much as the two of you are right now." Mr. Larson said, while Daphne's and Fred's jaws figuratively speaking of course, dropped to the stone floor.

"Mrs. Larson? You mean she's dead too?" Daphne asked, not wanting to believe what he was saying.

"Indeed; of course, I took care of her before she could warn you nosy sleuths. So, now there's really no one who can stop me, and the spirits of the house from disposing of the six of you." Mr. Larson replied.

While Fred and Daphne could swear that as they looked at him, his eyes were becoming blood red. This was something they certainly hadn't noticed before, and wondered if this was something that they should be worried about, which it probably was.

"You killed your own wife? Then Kelly was right!" Fred declared, which caused Daphne to raise an eyebrow at his comment.

"Kelly? You mean Mr. and Mrs. Larson's daughter spoke to you Freddie?" the red head asked, turning towards the blond haired sleuth, who was tugging at his shirt collar in a fit of somewhat nervousness.

"Um, well, the thing is she did. But she was only trying to warn me, Shaggy and Scooby about Mr. Larson, nothing more, nothing less." Fred replied, while the red head now had untangled her arm from Fred's and had her arms folded, looking clearly unhappy with her companion.

"Why don't I believe you Freddie?" Daphne asked, not sounding very satisfied with her companion's explanation.

"Daph, I'm serious. I know what you're thinking, Kelly Larson's rich and she's blonde, and you probably think just because she's like you, I would love her instead of you. But that's not it at all, I love you Daphne, and only you." Fred replied, with his hands placed on the red head's shoulders, as he tried desperately to show Daphne that she was his only love.

"Do you really mean that Freddie?" Daphne asked, looking deep into her companion's eyes.

"Of course I do Daphne, I love you" Fred replied, leaning into kiss the attractive red head on her right cheek.

"Thank you Freddie, and I love you too" Daphne responded, smiling and feeling her cheeks grow a bright shade of crimson as she spoke.

"Excuse me, I hate to bother you two lovebirds, but in case you haven't noticed, I'm still here. And I am going to make sure you two join the spirits of this mansion, by killing you both, just like I killed my wife." Mr. Larson said, laughing in a sinister tone after speaking to the sleuthing duo.

"I don't think so Mr. Larson, in fact we're going to leave here right now and find the rest of the gang. Then we're going to find your daughter and together, the six of us are going to leave her forever, and never come back." Fred remarked.

"Right and I think Kelly will have a good home with my parents. She'll have everything I had when I was her age, and she'll be with a loving family and loving parents, not like you, you psychopath!" Daphne added, her voice having risen about tenfold as it seemed to Fred that she was seriously telling off the businessman, or rather the deceased businessman.

"You may think that Miss Blake, but I promise you this: Kelly will join the two of you, but not at your home. When I'm done, Kelly will join the two of you in the afterlife!" Mr. Larson declared.

"You know Mr. Larson, you're starting to get very annoying. It seems to me that you're nothing but talk; all talk, and no action, you won't kill us, you don't have the abilities. As a matter of fact, if you did kill us, I would be very surprised!" Fred declared, almost challenging the dead millionaire as he spoke.

"Well, well, well, Mr. Jones. I've never known too many people who could stand up to me, either in business, or in my personal life; you however, can't stand up to me, because my little helpers are going to take care of the two of you for good!" Mr. Larson replied, in a very sinister tone of voice.

"You've said that several times now Mr. Larson, and yet you haven't done or said a single thing to show that you mean business. And just what helpers are you talking about?" Fred inquired.

"I haven't said or done a single thing to show that I mean business huh? Well then, what will you say if I do this!" Mr. Larson declared, laughing evilly once again. As he stood in front of the coffin, Fred and Daphne could swear the wind was beginning to pick up inside the mausoleum, but that wasn't all, not by a long shot.

The wind seemed to be colder, almost similar to what would usually happen if one was to spend time at a graveyard, or cemetery, especially after nightfall. The mysterious winds seemed to want to blow the red head and her companion down onto the floor, or out of the mausoleum for that matter; however, it appeared that Fred and Daphne were standing their ground, and managing to avoid the sheer unnatural strength and power that Mr. Larson now seemed to posses, which he was not happy about at all.

"So, my little winds aren't scaring you eh? Well, I'll fix that!" the deceased businessman replied, raising his hands towards the roof of the building.

"Spirits of the past arise, arise and show these fools what they're dealing with!" Mr. Larson exclaimed, as the winds seemed to give his face a monstrous or ghastly quality to it, which Fred and Daphne seemed to notice.

"Freddie, what's going on?" Daphne asked, hanging onto Fred's shoulder and not wanting to let go, not even for all the money in the world.

"I'm not sure Daphne, I'm not sure at all" Fred replied, silently gasping at what was happening.

"What's happening is this: now that I am a member of the mansion's spiritual family, I can summon and command the ghosts that inhabit the grounds. Over a hundred years of Larson family members, young, old, short, tall, they will all rise and serve me!" Mr. Larson declared, chuckling ominously as he spoke.

Suddenly the winds inside the dank, dark, mausoleum were joined by a mysterious light, which bathed the room in an eerie shade of white, which made Fred and Daphne very nervous. In addition to the winds, and the light, a loud clap of thunder and flash of lightning shook the room slightly, which gave what was happening a slight theatrical quality to it.

"What on earth is going on in here?" Fred thought aloud.

"Don't you two get it yet? You are both doomed, and so are the other members of Mystery Inc.!" Mr. Larson replied, as his laughter was getting increasingly creepier by the second.

Normally the strange lights, ghostly winds and being in a creepy mausoleum wouldn't be very frightening to Fred and Daphne, because they would usually all be separate things and issues. But because they all combined to form something that the two of them only saw in a horror movie, they were truly frightened, truly nervous, and as a result both of them knew that they might perish before the night was over, and that they would never see the light of the sun again.

Author's Notes: Not a bad cliff-hanger huh? I've made the executive decision to extend this story, as I am having too much fun writing it. I have also decided for now to make it 14 chapters, although that may change, depending on what happens and if I have more ideas or not.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

In the middle of a dark and stormy Ohio night, inside an ancient looking stone mausoleum on the grounds of the Larson Mansion, which was home to at least for now, a deceased millionaire named Franklin Larson and his also deceased wife April, as well as their currently alive daughter named Kelly, Fred Jones and Daphne Blake were having one of the scariest experiences of their lives.

Granted, they had been through some frightening things before, especially when they traveled to Oak Haven, Massachusetts and Moonscar Island, Louisiana. But those two places had nothing on the experience they were currently going through in the aforementioned Larson Mansion mausoleum. Specifically speaking, the man who had hired them to come investigate his home, was now dead and was attempting to literally scare the duo to death.

While Fred and Daphne were trying to figure out how to avoid a ghastly fate, mainly becoming zombies, or ghosts, or whatever the deceased millionaire had in store for them, the other members of Mystery Inc. were trying to avoid the same fate. Specifically, Scooby Doo and his nephew Scrappy Doo had made their way through the grounds, and were now at the edge of what they guessed was the Larson family cemetery, considering the two Great Danes were standing in front of hundreds of old gravestones and grave markers.

"You know Uncle Scooby, I'm not that scared of ghosts, but I have to admit, this place is really creepy" the one time police dog and younger of the two Danes remarked.

"Reah, rook at all the ravestones" Scooby Doo replied.

"Uncle Scooby?" Scrappy inquired.

"Res Rappy?" the elder Great Dane answered.

"Do you think we're going to find out what happened to that Mr. Larson and his wife?" Scrappy asked, not realizing that the aforementioned millionaire was dealing with Fred and Daphne in his own way at the moment.

"Ri don't rknow Rappy, rut I rnow re ran rind roth of rhem" Scooby replied.

"I know we can too, although with all the creepy stuff that's probably going on around here, I'm wondering if Kelly Larson's ok." Scrappy responded.

"Ri rhope ro roo, recause rhe reemed really rice rhen Reddie, re and Rhaggy ralked to her realier" the elder canine replied.

"You talked to her Uncle Scooby?" Scrappy asked.

"Rell, rort of; ractually rhe ras really rattracted to Rhaggy and Fred, rut rhe rid ray rhi ro re" Scooby replied.

"That's cool Uncle Scooby, so why did she come to see you, Fred and Shaggy?" Scrappy inquired.

"Recause re rhought rher rather ras roing to ry and rurder rher and rher rother" Scooby replied.

"You're kidding!" Scrappy said, not quite believing what his uncle was saying.

"Really, rhe ractually raid rhat" Scooby responded.

"Wow! If she really said that, and her mother's disappeared, then that could be evidence of a crime. Come on Uncle Scooby, let's find Kelly Larson, she might be able to help us solve this mystery!" Scrappy declared, in an almost Fred like tone of voice.

"Rut rhy Rappy?" Scooby inquired, in his usual cowardly manner.

"Because Uncle Scoob, if we can find Kelly, then she can testify against her father in a possible trial. I still have friends in the police department I served in as a member of the K-9 unit, and I might be able to help put Mr. Larson in jail if I knew more about Kelly, and what Mr. Larson planned on doing to her and her mother." Scrappy explained.

"Rell rin rhat rase, rhat are re raiting ror?" Scooby replied, now somewhat buoyed by what the younger Doo had told him.

"That's the spirit Uncle Scooby! Come on, let's head back to the house, because unless I miss my guess, that's where Kelly Larson probably is right now" Scrappy responded.

"Right!" Scooby barked in agreement.

However, the two Great Danes would not get to the house right away, as they, like Fred and Daphne, were about to have their own problems with the supernatural forces of Larson Mansion. Meanwhile, the aforementioned daughter of the temporarily deceased millionaire and his wife had resumed her search for her mystery solving idols, and was now halfway through the living room, and very close to the entrance to the Mansion's garden.

Once she opened the large glass door to the outside, Kelly Larson took mere seconds to get herself out of the haunted house and soon she was among the plants and flowers that her mother and the mansion's gardener had so carefully kept blooming. The blonde haired beauty took a few moments to take note of her surroundings and noticed that the rain was beating down on her like it was coming out of a garden hose, especially since it was an outdoor garden.

"Ugh, why did my mom insist on having an outdoor garden? It's pouring out here and me without a jacket" Kelly said, bemoaning her current situation.

Indeed the rain was pouring down on the young woman, which would result in her being soaked to the skin in a manner of moments. However, considering that she was walking through a garden, shade from the rain was available in numerous places, which gave left her with a broad smile on her face.

Knowing that she couldn't stay under the shade of a tree for very long, Kelly reluctantly continued on, past the numerous other plants, shrubs and foliage that populated and was growing in the Larson family's garden. But soon she would discover that she was not alone, for as she walked past a series of rose bushes, she could swear that some one or something was following her.

At first she looked behind here to see if this fact was indeed true, however after a few minutes, she scratched her head with a somewhat bewildered look on her face, and then resumed looking through the garden.

Kelly Larson had been walking for a few minutes when yet again she felt the distinct possibility that someone could very well be following her. In this case, she peered over for a few seconds at a gargoyle statue that her mother had bought many years ago; the statue sat in silence (as statues usually did) next to a large fountain with two cupid figures atop it.

The two figures of the mythological being who according to legend shot arrows at people, causing them to fall in love had a very unusual feature. In this case, the feature was that the mouths of the two figures each had a small water spout, out of which poured gallons of the clear liquid into the rest of the fountain, naturally collecting at the very bottom.

Of course Kelly had a particularly good reason for looking at the statue. In this case it was because she could swear that the ugly looking statue's eyes were moving; however, there were more factors then that which went into the young woman's decision to look behind here.

In addition to the eyes moving, she could swear that the statue was beginning to get up from its position near the fountain and was beginning to walk towards her. But of course that couldn't be true, because statues are usually stone and typically don't move very much since the time they were originally sculpted.

"Hmm…" Kelly thought aloud, turning back to where the statue was, and taking a brief look at it.

"I could almost swear that gargoyle was alive, and breathing. But I know that's not possible, or is it?" the beautiful blonde thought to herself.

Again she brushed it off as nothing and resumed walking through the vast garden, hoping to navigate her way through the flora, hopefully getting closer to the mansion. After she walked for a few minutes, she began feeling yet again as if she was being watched; realizing that she wasn't going to stop worrying about someone following her until she confronted whoever or whatever it was that was behind her, she turned around and checked to see if the interloper was friend or foe.

After turning around, Kelly Larson saw that the same ugly gargoyle statue that had been sitting near the cupid figurines only a few minutes before was now eye to eye with the blonde budding detective. Naturally this was very surprising, and would be surprising to anyone in Kelly's position; although considering she lived in a haunted mansion, she was used to these sorts of things for now.

"H-how on earth is that statue looking at me? It's just made of stone; stone is a material that is not organic, so it can't be alive and it doesn't have human eyes, or whatever kind of eyes that thing is looking at me with" Kelly said, stammering a bit over her words.

The statue seemed to grin at her, possibly even blinking its eyes at her as she stood scratching her head at the sculpture, which was a mere 50 inches away from the young woman. No matter how long she looked at the mythical stone figure, it seemed as if it was taunting her, perplexing her, trying to frighten or scare her off and away from the garden.

But despite all of that, Kelly Larson didn't weaken, or stray from her intended task, mainly to get through the garden and back to the house. She naturally hoped she would be able to get back to the grand estate before it was too late, to warn her friends about what was going on in the mansion and to make sure they would depart before they were kept on the grounds for an extended period of time.

However, someone didn't want her to accomplish this task, or rather something. Once she began walking again, she could feel as if the statue was still following her, watching every step she was making. Somewhat angry, she turned around to face her pursuer and looked straight into the gargoyle's face, but this time she was going to make sure that it wouldn't follow her any longer.

"Look, I don't know what you think you're trying to do. I don't know if you're trying to make me crazy or whatever, but there's no way you're going to stop me from doing what I came into this garden to do. And that's to get out of this garden and back to the mansion, so out of my way!" Kelly declared. However, she was stopped in her efforts as the gargoyle began roaring slightly and also started backing her up, while also trying to cut off her escape in the process.

"N-now don't c-come any closer, I warn you: I've had training in several forms of martial arts!" the blonde young woman explained, raising her hands in a manner that signified that she was ready to attack the creature.

Clearly the gargoyle was not impressed with what the young lady was trying to do, and attempted once again to frighten her by roaring and raising its arms in attempt to drive the blonde young woman away. But of course, that wasn't going to stop the young woman; in fact, it barely even registered to her, so she attempted to try and leave the garden yet again.

This time she was able to walk about a hundred feet through the garden, but soon was stymied yet again by the mysterious, now alive gargoyle. However, Kelly Larson was getting seriously tired of the winged creature's tricks, and was now ready to do something about it; in this case, she decided to use some of what she learned in her high school's debate team, which she was the captain of.

"All right, so you're still trying to stop me from leave the garden, that's fine. But let me ask you something Mr. Gargoyle, what will that get you? Will it get you kudos from your fellow supernatural creatures? Will it make you a better creature? Just what will scaring me off do for you?" the young woman said, in a manner similar to how a candidate would speak during a presidential debate.

The scaly and winged creature began scratching its head, slightly confused as to what the young woman was talking about. However, the creature wouldn't be confused for long, as once it realized what was going on, it started roaring and trying to scare the young woman once again. But this time Kelly didn't bother to try and reason with the creature, this time she merely decided to run, lest she be captured by the gargoyle.

While running, Kelly Larson decided to use this time to utilize another one of the talents she learned in school. In this case, the talent that she decided to make use of was the skills she had learned as the captain of her high school's girls track team; seeing how she was an excellent runner, she managed to run at a fairly blistering pace, and within five minutes was out of the garden.

Not wanting to stop running(and who could with the way she was going), she kept up her pace and soon had found herself in front of the family cemetery, which was attached to the garden that she just left. After slowing down, Kelly Larson looked around for any sign of her friends, to warn them of what was happening and what terrors she had faced thus far.

After a manner of mere moments, she found herself smiling as she spotted a pair of very familiar Great Danes walking amongst the gravestones. Even though she had been running like an Olympian only a few minutes ago, she desperately attempted to catch up to the two canines, as she didn't want to explore the mansion and the grounds by herself any longer.

"Scooby! Scrappy! Wait up!" the blonde haired young woman cried out; hoping the pair of dogs would slow down so she could find the two of them.

"Uncle Scooby, did you hear something?" the younger of the two Danes asked, turning to his elder for advice.

"Ri rhink ro Rappy, rut rid rou?" the older Great Dane answered, with a question of his own.

"I think I did Uncle Scooby, and it sounded like someone familiar" Scrappy replied.

"Reah, rome ro rhink of it, it rounded rike… Relly!" Scooby responded, before realizing the voice belonged to the young woman whom he, Shaggy and Fred had already met earlier in the evening.

"Kelly? Hmm… actually Uncle Scooby, it might indeed be her, maybe we should slow down and see what she wants" Scrappy remarked as the two canines conferred for a few moments before deciding to halt their progress for a few moments.

Seizing the few minutes that she had, while Scooby and Scrappy were standing still, Kelly Larson hurriedly walked up to the two Great Danes. Albeit huffing and puffing all the way, considering she was still attempting to catch her breath from running so much.

"Scooby, Scrappy, boy am I glad to see you two!" Kelly declared happily.

"What's the matter Kelly?" Scrappy inquired, while the blonde young woman leaned down to pet the younger canine on the head.

"Scrappy, you would not believe the night I've had so far. First, I thought I heard some noises while I was sleeping, then I woke up and decided to see if my parents were OK. Then, I found my mom and dad both missing from the bed they slept in." Kelly replied.

"Row, rhat a rary right" Scooby responded.

"Yeah, it was Scooby; and then, I saw a couple of, well I think they might have been ghosts inside the house. And then, to top it all off, I just gave the slip to a creepy gargoyle, who was a statue, but then he became alive and started chasing me!" Kelly explained.

"Man, that must have been something. But, there's one thing I don't understand Kelly" Scrappy replied, with a curious look on his face.

"What's that Scrappy?" the blonde asked.

"You said both your parents were gone right?" Scrappy inquired.

"Right, why?" Kelly answered.

"Well, I was in your parents' bedroom about a half hour before you were in there, judging by what you're saying. Now, Shaggy, Uncle Scooby, Daphne, Fred and Velma were all there, and they all saw that Miss Larson had disappeared, but Mr. Larson was still there, trying to get us to investigate the disappearance of his wife." Scrappy replied.

"Wait a minute, dad was in there with all of you… but mom had disappeared?" Kelly queried.

"Right again" Scrappy replied.

"Hmm… this just doesn't add up. How on earth did mom disappear, but dad was still in there with you guys, and then when I get there, dad was gone." Kelly remarked to herself, trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together.

"Rait Relly, raybe rhat rou raid about rour rad roing romething to rour rom ras raccurate." Scooby replied.

"Uncle Scooby's right Kelly, maybe your dad killed your mom, and then vanished, or somehow caused himself to vanish." The younger Great Dane suggested.

"But if that's possible, then where is he? You guys heard the storm, plus the power's out now, all over the mansion, and the grounds, not to mention every structure in a 50 mile radius. And there's something else too, not only is the power out, but because of the storm, the roads surrounding the estate are probably flooded and impassible too." Kelly replied.

"Right again Kelly; so that leaves us with one question, how did your dad get rid of your mom and then vanish as well? If the power's out and the roads are flooded as well I mean." Scrappy said, pondering yet another piece of the puzzle.

"How else, he's tricky; he owns communications companies, so he probably used one of the gadgets in the mansion to pull off the deed." Kelly replied, adding her own theories.

"You might be right Kelly, which means there's only one thing to do: get back to the house, find your dad and call the police." Scrappy responded.

"Lotsa Luck Scrappy, I tried calling the Edwardsville police earlier, the phones are out too. Which means we'll have to stay here for the rest of the night and try and solve the mystery." The blonde haired beauty replied, drumming her fingers on her chin as she spoke.

"Hmm… that is a puzzlement. Well, I guess we don't have any other choice then to crack this case. But first, we've got to figure out where the rest of the gang are." Scrappy explained.

"Right, if something sinister's going on around here, we might need their help." Kelly responded.

"Rut rhere are rhey?" Scooby thought aloud.

"Well, let's see: when we split up, Shaggy and Velma decided to investigate upstairs; while the two of us decided to investigate the grounds outside the house; and Fred and Daphne decided to investigate the downstairs portion of the mansion." Scrappy explained.

"Rall right on Rappy" Scooby replied.

"Thank you Uncle Scooby. Now, the problem is that because the grounds are quite immense, we have a lot of ground to cover, so it might take a while to find them." Scrappy remarked.

"Roh great, rust great" the elder Great Dane replied.

"What's the matter Uncle Scooby?" the younger Great Dane responded.

"Re right rind rome rhosts or ronsters rhere. Ractually rhe ronger re rearch, rhe rore rhance of rinding romething rary" Scooby answered.

"Don't worry Uncle Scooby, I don't think we're going to find any ghosts or monsters around here. Now come on, let's get back to the house and look for Fred and Daphne." Scrappy replied.

"Rokay Rappy, rif rou insist." The elder Great Dane responded.

With those words, the two Great Danes and the Larsons daughter began walking towards the house in search of their missing comrades, and hopefully in search of a solution to a mystery as well. Meanwhile, inside the mausoleum, Fred and Daphne continued plotting their escape, hoping somehow that the two of them wouldn't be buried in two of the building's coffins themselves.

"Help! Help! Let us out of here!" the blond and the red head cried out, as both of them began banging on the large door of the Larson family mausoleum.

"Try as you might Mr. Jones and Miss Blake, you'll never escape from here!" the deceased patriarch of the Larson family declared, laughing menacingly at the young adults misfortunes.

Realizing the spirit might be correct, the pair decided wisely to save their respective breaths and conserve any air that they might need for the future. Of course considering they were locked in an ancient mausoleum, with several dozen coffins inside, they figured that they would need a lot of air.

Not to mention the fact that the pair's air supply could run out any second; of course, there was always the possibility that they could be spending a lot of time in the mausoleum, which meant that conserving air could take on a whole new meaning. Staring in sheer fright at the horrible sight of the ghoulish Mr. Larson, Fred and Daphne knew that they couldn't hold him off very much longer.

Added to that, they both knew they had to figure out a plan to defeat the ghostly millionaire somehow, someway before they both perished. Neither of the two young adults seemed to have any ideas, and both of them were staring dumbfounded, mouths agape at the ghoulish, white, undead figure of the man, or former man floating several hundred feet in front of them, above the very coffin he had once been inside.

"Freddie, we've got to do something, Mr. Larson's cornered us; we have no way out of here!" Daphne said, starting to tear up as she spoke. Clearly she knew how hopeless the duo's current situation was, and clearly she knew what could happen to her and her companion if they couldn't figure a way out of the mausoleum.

"I know Daphne, I know. I want to get out of here just as much as you do; I want to stay alive, I don't want my life to end here in this creepy mausoleum." Fred replied, holding onto the red head's shoulders before pulling her into a hug.

"I don't want to lose you Freddie, I don't want to die!" the red head said, through tear filled eyes.

"I know Daphne, but how can we keep this up? We have no clue as to how we can get out of here; it'll take a miracle for us just to get out of this whole situation." Fred replied, holding the red head close, as she rested her head against the young man's chest.

At the moment, Fred Jones and Daphne Blake knew their situation was incredibly, incredibly hopeless, they knew they had to escape from their possible tomb and soon. But how? And could they think of something before they became ghosts themselves? As the old saying goes: it's always darkest before the dawn, and soon Fred Jones and Daphne Blake were indeed going to have their own dawn, both literally and figuratively.

Author's Notes: I'm a stinker aren't I? I have to admit though, I'm a sucker for a good cliff hangar and I decided to end this chapter with yet another one; I don't know how many more chapters I'm going to make this story, but rest assured, the conclusion will come before you know it.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

The black, bleak, dark Ohio night failed to permeate through the fortress that was the Larson family mausoleum. The grey stone building housed a dozen or so coffins filled with the earthly remains of members of the Larson family, one of the Midwest's most influential and richest families, ever since they came to the United States in the 1700s.

Right now though, one of the current generation Larsons was standing, or rather floating above a coffin where his body was lying, considering he was deceased. Inside the mausoleum, Fred Jones and Daphne Blake, two members of the detective agency known as Mystery Inc. were at the mercy of said spirit, or zombie or whatever the being was that the two of them were dealing with.

However, there was one thing that Fred and Daphne were getting very confused about as they stood in the mausoleum. What the two of them were confused about was why the body of Mr. Larson, which had been in the coffin, was now floating above them as a spirit. In all their careers as detectives, things that were fishy or didn't set quite right with them registered a serious red light in their minds, and this was no exception.

"Daphne, our situation may not be as hopeless as you might think. Take a look over at our mysterious friend and tell me what you see." The blond remarked; Daphne then followed his lead and looked in front of her, of course she saw the same sight her companion had. In this case, she saw double: the bloody corpse of Mr. Larson still standing in front of them, and the spiritual remains of the millionaire floating above them at the same time.

"Wait a minute, I get it now. How is there a ghost of Mr. Larson when his body, his dead body is standing right in front of us?" Daphne wondered, having stopped crying a few moments ago.

"Yeah; you know something isn't adding up all of a sudden." Fred replied, holding a finger to his chin in deep thought.

"I agree Freddie; I think we finally have a clue as to what's really going on around here." Daphne responded.

"Right, and if we're both thinking the same thing, I think we have a fraudulent spirit here in our midst." Fred replied.

However, this made the spirit and the zombie Mr. Larson both very angry. In this case, the pair of supernatural beings growled and the eyes of the ghostly millionaire began to glow a bright and almost sinister shade of red. In fact, as Fred and Daphne looked on, they could swear the eyes of the spirit had turned a deep, dark shade of crimson, which was clearly not something the blond and the red head wanted to see.

"How dare you two question my validity, I am you meddling brats worst nightmare! I will not be denied, and I will haunt you two to the ends of the Earth!" Mr. Larson declared, dripping blood on the stone floor.

"We don't think so Mr. Larson, we know the truth behind what's really going on here and we're going to crack this case, come on Daphne!" Fred stated as he and the red head headed right for the undead millionaire.

"You two really think you're going to capture me huh? Well I've got news for you; I won't be caught so easily!" Mr. Larson declared as suddenly a large plume of smoke surrounded Fred and Daphne.

This surprised the two of them, and in the midst of their confusion, Mr. Larson, or at least the undead version of him, was able to make his escape. The blood covered corpse of the mysterious millionaire took off like a bullet and headed directly for the secret passageway that the red head and the blond had came out of earlier.

After the smoke cleared and the pair of sleuths were able to see again, they discovered that the blood soaked corpse of Mr. Larson had vanished. While this was a bit unsettling to the sleuthing pair, they did notice the ghost of the millionaire was still in the mausoleum, which relieved them, as they both figured the spirit wouldn't give them too much trouble.

"Looks like that creepy corpse gave us the slip." Daphne quipped.

"Yeah, he did; but he did leave us a clue, that ghost is still here. And I have a hunch that there's a good explanation as to why he's still here." Fred replied.

"What's that Freddie?" Daphne asked.

"Simple, I have a pretty good hunch that somewhere in this mausoleum, there's a hidden projector. And unless I miss my guess, that projector is why we saw the ghost." Fred replied.

"Terrific! So what are we waiting for, let's find it!" Daphne declared.

With the red head's words of encouragement still ringing in the pair's heads, the two of them begin a search throughout the small building for any sign of the projector that Fred Jones insisted was somewhere in the mausoleum. After about five minutes, the two sleuths were beginning to realize that their search was becoming a bit futile and that there was no sign of any projectors or machines.

"Freddie, I'm about ready to give up, I don't know if we'll be able to find that projector anywhere." Daphne remarked.

"Yeah, I'm beginning to think that whole projector thing was a crazy id-ow!" Fred replied before beginning to hop around on his right foot, clearly looking as if he was in pain.

"Freddie what's wrong?" Daphne asked, putting a hand on the young man's shoulder in an attempt to try and ease his pain as it were.

"I'm not sure, but I think I might have run into something." Fred replied, leaning down to rub his right foot and ankle.

"Run into something? Like what?" Daphne inquired.

"Well…" Fred said, hopping aside to let Daphne look at what he had found.

"I think I found that projector I was talking about, ooh, ouch!" the blond haired young adult continued, still bemoaning his injury.

"Yeah, you did. But the question is are you okay?" Daphne inquired, with her hand now on Fred's right arm.

"I think so, I'm just a little sore from my injury. But at least we found the projector." Fred replied.

"I guess so; there's just one thing I don't understand about this." Daphne pondered.

"What's that Daphne?" Fred inquired.

"Well, I'm looking at this projector, but I can't seem to figure out how to operate it. I mean I would think there would be an on off switch, but I can't seem to locate it." The red head replied, examining the device as she spoke.

"Hmm… you're right." Fred remarked, as he joined the young woman in inspecting the piece of equipment.

"You know there is one reason why I can't find a switch to turn this on and off." The red head responded.

"What's that Daphne?" Fred asked.

"There is a possibility that the projector might be on some kind of a timer. Whoever brought the device in her in the first place could have set it up so it could be operated remotely." Daphne replied.

"Good thinking Daphne, but how and why?" Fred inquired.

"Got me; although if I had to guess, I would have to say that whoever's trying to scare us probably put it here." Daphne replied.

"Right; not to mention, there's a million dollars at stake for each of us. Six million if you add it all up; and there are plenty of people in the mansion and on the grounds who might want to scare us away." Fred noted.

"Too true Freddie; but who would want to scare us off, and what reason would they have to do it?" Daphne wondered aloud.

"I don't know. But as for the second question, if I had to make a guess, it would seem that whoever's trying to scare us off wants to keep that six million dollars for themselves." Fred replied.

"That's certainly a good reason. But if whoever's trying to scare us off knew we were here for charity, why are they trying to scare us off?" Daphne responded.

"I don't know that either. Although, there is one possibility running through my mind." Fred replied.

"What's that Freddie?" Daphne asked.

"Simple; maybe Mr. Larson's not really dead, maybe he's hiding somewhere trying to ferret us out so he can scare us again." Fred replied.

"But Freddie, we saw Mr. Larson's corpse, blood and all. So we know he's dead." Daphne explained.

"We saw a corpse Daphne, we saw a corpse. That doesn't necessarily mean it was Mr. Larson's." Fred replied.

"Okay, so let's say it wasn't Mr. Larson's corpse, whose was it then?" Daphne asked.

"Well, I have a sneaking suspicion that the corpse was actually Mr. Larson. However, I have a feeling that he wasn't really dead; maybe he was play acting, and that blood might have been something else…" Fred replied, drumming his fingers on his chin as he spoke.

"Something else? Like what?" Daphne inquired.

"Ketchup, Jam, whatever; I just have the weirdest feeling that stuff was not blood." Fred remarked.

"OK, OK, so let's say it's not blood then. But that still doesn't answer the other part of the mystery. Mainly, where is Mrs. Larson." Daphne replied.

"I don't know; but wherever she is, she might be involved with this too." Fred responded.

"Huh? How is Mrs. Larson involved?" Daphne asked.

"Well, she could be the one operating the remote projector. And she could very well be the one who gave Mr. Larson that outfit, or however he masqueraded as a zombie." Fred replied.

"So Mrs. Larson's involved somehow in all this; what about that blonde daughter of theirs: Kelly?" Daphne inquired.

"I don't think she's involved. She sounded genuinely frightened when she was talking to me, Shaggy and Scooby earlier." Fred replied.

"Makes sense; but there has to be a lot of people to make this whole thing work, what about those bats we met in the secret passageway? Somebody definitely could have released them, and trained them to fly into the corridor we were in." Daphne remarked.

"Good point Daphne, and don't forget that creep we saw in the corridor after we escaped the bats. Unless that was Mr. Larson too." Fred replied, with a curious look on his face.

"It's certainly possible; what about the staff of the mansion? The butler, the maid, the cooks, the kitchen staff… all those people could be involved in all this." Daphne responded.

"You're right Daph; and it's our job to find out who's trying to scare us away. And why they're doing it." Fred replied.

"Right Freddie; but first we have to get out of here. And then we can get back to the house and start to unravel this mystery more." Daphne responded.

"Only problem is how are we going to get out of this mausoleum?" Fred asked.

"We could try my hairpin again." Daphne suggested.

"Good idea Daph, I mean it worked once, so it could work again." Fred answered.

So with those words, the red head brought out her hair pin once again, in an attempt to make an exit from the dark, cobweb filled room. While Daphne was trying her hand yet again at lock picking, outside the mausoleum, at the entrance to the family cemetery as a matter of fact, two familiar Great Danes and a blonde haired young woman stood ready to head back to the confines of Larson Mansion.

"This cemetery is starting to give me the creeps guys, and this is coming from someone who lives in a haunted house. Not to mention someone who's used to this sort of thing by now." Kelly quipped.

"I bet it is Miss Larson. What I can't understand is how on earth have you been able to stand living in this place all these years? Especially with who knows how many ghosts running around here." Scrappy replied.

"Well, it hasn't been easy Scrappy. Although if there's one thing I've learned from living in a place like this, it's that watching horror movies are a must." Kelly answered.

"Watching horror movies?" the younger Great Dane asked, with a curious look on his face, and his eyebrow having risen just a bit.

"Absolutely; whenever I watch a horror movie, I take notes. I look at the villain or monster or ghost involved, I look at whoever the people are who are in the movie, like what type of person or personality they are. I look at what methods they use to scare the heroes, etc.; I guess you could say watching those movies is equivalent to scouting an opponent for a football game or other sporting event." Kelly replied.

"Very interesting analogy Kelly. Are you a football fan?" Scrappy inquired.

"Well, sort of; to tell the truth, even though I threw myself at Shaggy and Fred earlier, I have, or I guess I should say had a boyfriend. He moved away after my freshman year of high school though." Kelly replied.

"Cool; what was his name?" Scrappy asked.

"His name was Thomas. He was really cool, really handsome and was a football player for the high school I attend. Plus he was a fan of the Cleveland Browns, so I guess that's what got me into football. And I guess that's why I used the football analogy; I still think about him a lot." Kelly responded.

"That's kind of awkward. You're still thinking about a former boyfriend, even though you threw yourself at Shaggy and Fred earlier tonight." Scrappy replied.

"I know; I guess that's a weakness of mine. It's shameful, and a bit annoying, and possibly a bit silly and stupid, but I just miss him so much." Kelly said, before starting to tear up a bit.

"Relax Kelly, we know how it is to lose someone close to us. Especially Uncle Scooby." Scrappy replied, looking over at the elder Great Dane.

At first Scooby Doo was a bit annoyed at Scrappy for bringing up such an unpleasant memory of his life, but once he saw the forgiving look in the younger Dane's eyes, he knew Scrappy Doo was only trying to help his uncle. In this case, the younger of the two Great Danes was trying to bring up a situation which might be applicable to the young woman that was helping them attempt to solve the mystery of her parents' disappearance, and the ghostly goings on in the mansion as well.

"Reah, relieve re, rit's rot easy rosing romeone rou rove. Ralthough rin ry rase, rit ras romeone rho I rought I ras roing to rspend ry rentire rife rith." Scooby remarked, wiping a tear from his eye as he spoke.

"Sorry to bring up old wounds Uncle Scooby." Scrappy said, before he went over to his uncle and began hugging him.

"Rot a problem Rappy." Scooby Doo replied, smiling all the while as his nephew and the older Dane shared one of those moments that was without a doubt sweeter then any Candy known to man or beast.

"How sweet… you know, in all the time that I've known my parents, I don't think I've ever seen anything like this. Scooby, Scrappy, people could really learn a lot from the two of you; no matter what, it seems like the two of you have a great friendship, and I'm pretty certain that nothing could ever break it up." Kelly Larson said, smiling as she watched the two Great Danes.

"Thanks Kelly. I mean we are relatives after all, so even though we do get on each other's nerves on occasion." Scrappy began.

"Rand ron our friends' rerves…" Scooby replied.

"Right, and on our friends' nerves for that matter, we're family and blood is a lot thicker and more important then anything in the world." Scrappy remarked.

"Hmm… you know, when we find my parents, I might have to tell them exactly what you two just said." Kelly replied.

"I would suggest you do that Kelly. I definitely think it might be a good idea to tell them how you feel about them, and if you do see your parents again, I think that should be the first thing you should tell them." Scrappy responded.

"Thank you Scrappy, you really are a smart Great Dane." Kelly replied, after picking up the young Great Dane and hugging him.

"Gosh, you're welcome Miss Larson." Scrappy responded, feeling his face become a little red as he spoke.

"Raw, Rappy Roo's rlushing." Scooby Doo replied, as he began to chuckle a little, while the younger Dane smiled and to his embarrassment, tried to stop himself from blushing, which he couldn't.

"Come on Uncle Scooby, I'm not blushing." Scrappy explained, trying to hide part of his face from his relative.

"Rappy, rit's rokay rif you're rlushing. Rhat reans a rirl ras raken a riking ro rou, rand ri rhink rhis is rhe rirst rtep ro rou retting a rirlfriend." Scooby replied, taking his nephew gently by the arm, before putting his own arm around his nephew in a gesture of friendship and camaraderie.

"Really? Thanks Uncle Scooby, that's terrific!" Scrappy said emphatically.

"Raww, rit ras rothing really Rappy. Rike I raid refore, re're ramily, rand ramily ralways rticks rogether." Scooby replied, continuing to show his display of friendship towards his diminutive, but brave nephew.

While the two Great Danes engaged in a very touching and heartwarming scene, with Kelly Larson looking on and smiling, two other members of Mystery Inc. were hoping that they would see their own families again, much less see the light of the sun again. Some time had passed since Daphne Blake had attempted to open the door of the Larson Mausoleum, but even though time had crawled by since she attempted to pick the lock, she was not having very much success in getting her and her boyfriend out of their dark, bleak prison.

"I can't understand it, every other time I try to pick the lock of a door during a mystery, I'm successful at it. But this door just doesn't seem to want to open; it's either stuck, locked tight as a drum, or it just won't open, no matter what I try and do to open it." Daphne stated, after putting the hair pin away.

She then ended up switching tactics in order to get her and Fred Jones out of the mausoleum. In this case, she tried pulling and pulling on the heavy metal door, which seemed to be lined with lead as well. Not giving up, she then tried pounding on it, and soon she was joined by her writing and mystery solving blond comrade, who was eager to get out of the dark, bleak looking room just as much as she was.

"Let us out, let us out!" Daphne and Fred shouted in unison, hoping someone, somewhere on the grounds would hear them.

Time, after time, after time Fred and Daphne pounded on the large metal door, shouting and screaming for their lives. Unfortunately for them, the red head and the blond were getting rather tired, and the duo's energy was becoming rapidly depleted as they both began realizing that they quite possibly were going to become trapped in the mausoleum for the rest of their natural lives.

"Ugh, I give up! We tried picking the lock of the door, banging on it, pounding on it and shouting for our lives, but nobody seems to be coming to help us." Daphne remarked, before sliding down onto the ground and sitting in front of the large metal door.

"Come on Daphne, we've faced tougher challenges then this. We can get out of here, I know we can." Fred replied, with a somewhat determined look on his face.

"How? How can we possibly get out of this stupid mausoleum? We've already tried everything in the book, and we're running out of options, if we have any left of course." Daphne responded.

"We haven't run out of every option Daphne, there's still one left. And there's still one option that I can think of that might help us, and get us out of here." Fred replied.

"All right Fred, what is this idea that you have?" Daphne said.

Having known Fred for as long as she had, she figured the young man might just have a plan to get the both of them out of the mausoleum after all, so she began listening to his words very carefully.

"I know it's cliché Daphne, but I'm going to try something from the movies. I'm going to find something hard and use it to bang on this door, and hope someone can hear it." Fred explained.

"Well, I guess since there's no other options left for us, I guess we'll have to do it. Go right ahead Fred." Daphne agreed.

"OK, just let me find something to use." Fred replied, looking around the small, dark mausoleum for anything that he could use to let anyone on the grounds know he and Daphne were stuck in a rather depressing situation.

After a few minutes, the young blond haired individual had examined every square inch of the room, and was just about ready to give up. However, seemingly if by magic, or by a rather convenient coincidence, the unofficial leader of Mystery Inc. spotted a piece of large pipe in one corner of the mausoleum.

"Perfect! That's exactly what I need to get someone's attention." Fred remarked, with a triumphant tone in his voice, although Daphne wasn't quite sure about this situation and wasn't too sure about him seemingly finding a piece of pipe out of nowhere.

"Freddie, call me a Debbie downer, but I don't know if this is a good idea. I mean someone could have put a spell on that pipe or something to drive us nuts. Or Mr. Larson might have used that pipe to…" Daphne started, before being cut off by her boyfriend.

"Daphne, this might be jinxed or something along those lines, but as a wise man once said: do we have a choice?" Fred replied, with a question of his own.

"Something tells me that I guess we don't." Daphne remarked.

"Thank you, now let's see if we can get out of here." Fred replied, as he picked up the piece of pipe and then walked back across the room to the door.

"OK Daphne, stand back, because this might get a bit messy. Actually, I think it would be a good idea if you stand clear when I try this." The blond young adult added.

"Sure thing Freddie." Daphne replied, as she started walking backwards until she was a safe distance away from the large metal door of the mausoleum.

"OK, here goes nothing!" Fred declared as he raised the pipe and began banging on the metal door with as much strength and stamina that he could muster up.

Luckily for Fred Jones, he played football in high school, could bench press 220, and was for lack of a better term, very physically fit. So he figured he would have no problem using the pipe to get someone's attention, which would hopefully come sooner rather then later.

Fred seemingly took forever to bang away at the door, hoping and praying that someone, somewhere on the grounds would hear him. After all, who could ignore the sound of someone banging a large metal pipe on a large metal door forever?

While Fred and Daphne were hoping someone would come to their rescue, Kelly, Scooby and Scrappy stood outside, about ready to head back to the mansion in search of their friends and colleagues. Although the intrepid trio hadn't gotten very far when the one female and human of this distinctive trio began picking up something with her hearing; granted she wasn't a dog, and didn't have super keen hearing like a Great Dane, but still she could hear something clear as a bell.

"To quote Daphne: Jeepers, do you guys hear that?" Kelly asked, borrowing a phrase from the red headed member of the team of young sleuths.

"Hmm… I think so, and my hearing is usually pretty good. Although in this case, I could definitely pick the sound up even if I was a human." Scrappy observed.

"Right, because it seems like it's pretty clear, clear as a bell almost." Kelly added.

"Hey, that gives me an idea." Scrappy replied.

Usually when Scrappy Doo had an idea, it was a pretty good one, and this time was no different. In fact, when Kelly Larson said clear as a bell, it was almost as if a light bulb went off above Scrappy's head, thereby providing him with his idea.

"What's your idea Scrappy?" Kelly asked.

"Simple, I've seen a lot of mysteries solved over the years. And watching my Uncle Scooby work at solving them as given me a keen eye and ear for good plans and ideas, so I think I have one that will work here. Since Uncle Scooby has one of the best sets of ears I've ever seen and heard, we can use him to track down the source of the noise." Scrappy replied.

"Now that's a good idea Scrappy. You're pretty smart, you know that?" Kelly asked, teasing the diminutive Great Dane a little as she spoke.

"I know, I get told that all the time." Scrappy replied, feeling his cheeks blush a little as he spoke.

"Well, it's definitely 100 percent true Scrappy." Kelly responded.

"Thank you Kelly, that was nice of you to say. Now, let's find out where that noise is coming from, what do you say Uncle Scooby?" Scrappy replied, first looking over at the blonde haired young woman before moving his sight over to his uncle.

"Reah, ri ruess ri retter." The elder Great Dane responded, before starting to head in the direction the sound was coming from; although as it so happened, Scooby Doo was heading in the exact direction of the Larson Family Mausoleum, a fact that Kelly and Scrappy soon noticed.

"Uncle Scooby, are you sure you're going in the right direction?" Scrappy inquired, before he walked over to his relative and asked him about where he was currently going.

"Ri rhink ro, rhy?" Scooby replied, with a question of his own.

"Because right now you're heading in the direction of our family mausoleum. The last time I checked the only things in there were coffins, cobwebs, and possibly a few ghosts." Kelly answered.

"Rhosts?" Scooby whimpered, mostly at the thought of the G word.

"Relax Uncle Scooby; I don't think there are really any ghosts around here." Scrappy replied.

"I don't know about that Scrappy. But even if there are any ghosts in the mausoleum, we've got to take that risk; because our friends might be in trouble." Kelly offered, sounding almost like a member of Mystery Inc., at least for the moment.

"Good point Kelly, I think we better see who or what's in there. Just in case they are friendly." Scrappy added.

"Ri ron't rknow rif I rant ro ree rho or rhat's raking rhat roise rif re're rot reindly." Scooby remarked, biting his nails a bit as he spoke.

"Come on Uncle Scooby, we've got to at least see who or what it is before we can make judgments." Scrappy replied.

"Ri ruess rou're right Rappy." Scooby responded.

"Good, now let's continue on towards the mausoleum." Scrappy suggested.

Naturally Scooby Doo and Kelly took the young Great Dane's suggestion, however the aforementioned diminutive Dane was in back, along with Kelly Larson. The cowardly, but kind hearted Scooby Doo meanwhile took the lead, and informed his compatriots of whenever he picked up another sound or noise.

Soon the trio was right in front of the mausoleum door, and Scooby, Scrappy and Kelly were trying figure out how to get the aforementioned mausoleum door open. After a few moments of silence, the elder of the pair of Great Danes came up with a perfect idea in which to open the heavy metal door.

"Rey, ri know!" Scooby declared.

"What's up Uncle Scooby? Got an idea?" Scrappy inquired.

"Rure ro Rappy, rust ratch." Scooby replied.

The older of the two Great Danes then stuck out one of his black claws, inserted the claw into the door lock, and began moving his claw around the lock. After a few minutes of fiddling with the lock, Scooby Doo and the others heard the distinct sound of a lock click, which meant that the Great Dane had managed to get the door open.

"Voila!" Scooby declared after taking his claw out of the lock, and opening the door rather easily.

"Anyone in here?" Scrappy asked.

"Scrappy? Is that you?" a familiar female voice replied.

"Yes it's me, and Scooby and Kelly Larson are with me. Daphne, is that you?" Scrappy responded.

"Sure is; and boy am I glad to see you three." Daphne replied, walking from the side of the room where she and Fred had moved to after the blond young man tried use the pipe to get someone's attention.

"Likewise, it's a good thing we moved out of the way. Otherwise we might have been squished, since the door opened inwards." Fred responded.

"Yeah, no kidding. So, have you three had any luck in solving this mystery?" Daphne inquired.

"Not much unfortunately. Although I had a heck of a time while I was in the family garden." Kelly replied.

"You're kidding!" Fred replied, with a somewhat surprised tone in his voice.

"I wish I was, but I'm not. How about you two, did you guys have any luck in finding any clues that would solve this case?" Kelly asked.

Although for some reason, once she asked her question, Fred and Daphne each had a look on their faces that seemed to indicate that they did find something, but that they were keeping it a secret. As the two journalists/detectives looked over at Kelly Larson, they both knew they wanted to tell her the truth, that both her parents were no longer in the land of the living, and that her father was involved in her mother's death.

But for some unexplainable reason, both Fred and Daphne kept their mouths closed. Although the reason why they didn't say anything was a mystery to the pair, which most likely would never be solved as long as they both lived. And judging by the way things were going, Daphne and Fred's lives might not be that long to begin with.

"You mean you guys didn't find anything odd, or strange or unusual?" Kelly inquired.

The blonde haired daughter of the Larson family kept pushing, prodding and overall trying to get the two of them to spill what they found so far. But Fred and Daphne didn't want to tell the young woman anything that would be too upsetting to her, so they both made a mutual decision; in this case, they decided to wait for a while, until the gang was all together, which both realized was probably a good idea.

"I really think we should wait we find the others first. Then we'll tell you what we found, okay?" Daphne asked, looking over at Kelly Larson once again, who was a bit unsure of the pair's idea at first; but then she changed her mind and relented to the duo's idea.

"I guess if you guys want to wait until we find Velma and Shaggy, then that's cool with me." Kelly said.

"Good, now let's get back to the mansion before anything else happens." Fred remarked.

"Yeah, and before the rain and the storm completely ruins my hair." Daphne bemoaned, trying to keep her hair from getting soaked by the thunderstorms that were currently in the area.

With that, Fred, Daphne, Kelly Larson, Scooby and Scrappy started back towards the spooky, ghost filled Larson Mansion, hoping to get inside before they drowned due to the aforementioned bad weather. Even though the house did have all manner of frightening creatures inside, and when one set foot inside the home, their nerves would probably be shot beyond belief, it was still more then likely the safest place to be on the grounds.

However, as the hours dragged on, and the night continued towards its eventual progression into day, Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy, Scooby, Scrappy and their new friend Kelly were about to experience something unlike they had never seen before in their lives. They were about to encounter forces that were the very epitome of darkness, and evil, and before the night was over, those forces could possibly take the lives of the aforementioned sleuths and their blonde haired admirer.

Author's Notes: Sorry for the incredibly long time between updates, I've got real life issues to deal with, mostly involving money. However, I do and am still planning on writing fan fiction (after all, it's a pretty good way to escape from real life for a while, especially when Scooby Doo is concerned). I might finish this story in Chapter 14, or I might keep it going further, I'm still not quite sure yet.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Inside the gloomy, foreboding, and overall creepy Larson Mansion, a grandfather clock somewhere in the house struck the hour of 4 AM. The grandfather clock usually added to the atmosphere of a haunted mansion, or haunted place, and it was something that while told the time, also sometimes signified doom, death, or when someone was about to get scared out of their wits, like in a horror movie.

For Fred Jones, Daphne Blake, Scooby Doo, Scrappy Doo and their temporary companion Kelly Larson, they didn't have to worry too much about a grandfather clock. The reason this was accurate was because for the four members of Mystery Inc., and Velma Dinkley and Shaggy Rogers, who were somewhere within the house, live was like a horror movie, and for each of them, every day could be their last day on Earth.

A few moments after Fred, Daphne, Scooby, Scrappy and Kelly walked from the area near where the mausoleum was to the front door, they each took a moment to survey and take stock of their current situation. After a collective deep breath between the five of them, the members of Mystery Inc. and the Larsons daughter waited, while getting ready for someone to open the mansion's front door.

"I never thought I would say this, but I am glad to get back inside the mansion. Even if it is really scary, and even if there are gargoyles, and creepy stuff inside." Kelly remarked.

"A Gargoyle? Jeepers." Daphne replied, somewhat in shock at what the blonde young woman had said.

"Yeah, that's just one of the things I had to deal with during the time that I was looking for my parents." Kelly responded.

"Man, that sounds crazy; although if what we've found so far is any indication of what's going on around here…" Fred started.

"Why? What did you find?" Kelly asked.

"Believe me Miss Larson, you wouldn't believe us if we told you. Although I think we better get inside quick, before we get struck by lightning." Fred replied.

"Good idea Freddie, except for one thing: there's probably no one in the house, other then Shaggy and Velma. This means that we either need a key, or someone's going to have to figure another way inside." Daphne stated.

"Daphne, it's a good thing you said that. Because there just happens to be a key to the house under the welcome mat; actually my parents had a key made for me a while back, just in case of emergencies. And after they made the key for me, they let me do whatever I wanted with it, so I decided to keep it in a plastic bag under the mat." Kelly explained.

"That's an interesting way to store a key Miss Larson." Scrappy replied.

"Well, I'm a bit of a neat freak. I wasn't too crazy about having a house key that's all dusty and dirty; so I put it in a clear plastic bag. In there it should be same from any dirt, which is always a good thing." Kelly clarified.

"I can agree with that Kelly. I was that way when I was in Junior High; although the rest of the gang wasn't too crazy about me being a neat freak, and afraid of dirt." Daphne replied.

"That's for sure." Fred remarked with a bit of a chuckle, which caused the red head to frown and want to give the young man a piece of her mind.

"Let's forget about that for now. We need to get inside, and before we suffer at the hands of the ghosts of the mansion." Kelly explained as she reached under the welcome mat and pulled out the aforementioned clear plastic bag.

Kelly Larson then opened the bag, pulled out the key, and placed the key in the lock of the mansion's front door. In a few moments time, the blonde haired heiress had opened the door, and soon after that, Fred, Daphne, Scooby and Scrappy Doo followed her inside.

Naturally, a few moments later, and in the grand tradition of haunted houses, the front door of the mansion closed with a loud, deafening creak. About a microsecond after the door closed however, Scooby Doo ran towards the door and tried pulling it open, albeit with no success, which meant that he and his friends were trapped, at least for a while.

"Looks like we're not going to be leaving for a while." Daphne noted.

"Yeah, looks that way to me too." Fred replied.

"Roh no! Row rhat are re roing to ro?" Scooby asked.

"There's not much we can do Uncle Scooby. The door slammed and locked behind us; not to mention we have no idea on how long we're going to be stuck in here." Scrappy replied.

"Like you've got to be kidding!" a familiar sounding male voice shouted from across the room.

"Shaggy? Is that you, or is this house playing tricks on me?" Daphne asked, trying to figure out where the voice was coming from, and if it did belong to one of their friends.

"If it is playing tricks on you Daphne, then I guess I'm one of the tricks too." A familiar female voice added.

"Velma?" Scrappy asked.

"Sure is, by the way: where are you guys?" Velma replied, with a question of her own.

"We're in the living room; we just got back inside the house." Scrappy responded.

"Great, hang on and Shaggy and I'll meet you guys." Velma replied.

Soon Shaggy and Velma had made their way across the mansion's living room, and before long had rejoined Fred, Daphne, Scrappy, Scooby and Kelly Larson. The six members of Mystery Inc. and their blonde comrade for the moment were all safe and sound, without any scratches, scrapes or bruises on any of the members of the group. While this was good news to all six of their ears and eyes, each of the six sleuths, as well as Kelly still had stories to tell regarding their experiences in the mansion thus far.

"Well now that we're all together again, let's see if we can make some sense of this case at all." Fred remarked.

"Good luck Freddie, because no matter how many clues we have or whatever we've found so far, I don't think I can make heads or tails out of this one." Daphne replied.

"Well let's see if we can make some sense out of things anyway. Like for starters, wait til you hear what happened to Shaggy and me." Velma stated.

"OK Velma, go right ahead." Fred replied.

"Well, for starters during our exploring of the house, we checked out the upstairs. While we were investigating, we found a room that didn't look very weird at first, but then we found something that for once made me speechless." Velma remarked.

"Like what Velma?" Scrappy asked.

"Like a closet with a skeleton, hung from where you usually hang up clothes. And speaking of which, the skeleton seemed to be fully clothed believe it or not." Shaggy replied.

"Jeepers!" Daphne declared, with a look of horror on her face.

"Like yeah; in all the spooky or haunted places I've ever been in my life, and in all the scary situations I've ever been involved with, that might have been the scariest thing I've ever seen." Shaggy replied.

"Man, that must have been a horrible fright Shaggy. What about you Scrappy, what did you and Scooby find?" Fred asked, turning to the group's pair of Great Danes.

"Unfortunately we didn't find a thing. Although we did run into Kelly while she was doing her investigating. Or rather afterwards I guess." Scrappy replied, turning to Kelly Larson to see what she found.

"They sure did. As for me, I went into my parents' bedroom after you guys split up to investigate the mansion; and while in there, I found that both mom and dad weren't in their bed. Not only that, but after I left their room, I went outside and investigated the mansion's garden." Kelly responded.

"Wow, what happened after that Kelly?" Scrappy inquired.

"Well after that, I had a run in with a gargoyle in said garden, and then when I was running away from it, I ran into Scooby and Scrappy." Kelly replied.

"And then together, the three of us headed for the mansion. But what about you guys?" Scrappy wondered, looking over at the red head and the blond young man to see what they had found out.

"You wouldn't believe us if we told you Scrappy, but I guess we better start at the beginning." Daphne replied.

"Right; first off, we investigated the mansion's library, and found a secret passageway leading from the mansion to the Larson family mausoleum." Fred started.

"That's new; I didn't know about any secret passageway that led from the library to the mausoleum. Although I've been living in this mansion since I was born and there are still things I don't know about this place." Kelly stated.

"I bet; and that's not all of it. While we were in the passageway we came up against some ghoulish figure: specifically a zombie. Thankfully we were able to outrun him easily, and eventually we found our way to the mausoleum like Fred said, plus while we were in the passageway, we ran into a group of bats that were flying around our heads as well." Daphne replied.

"Incredible, what happened after that?" Kelly asked.

"Well Miss Larson, I don't think you want to really hear this part. I mean I don't think you want to know what happened next after we were in the mausoleum." Fred replied.

"Fred, I'm a big girl. I can handle whatever you tell me, trust me." Kelly responded.

"If I had a nickel for every time I heard that, I would be way richer then I am now." Daphne replied, in a whispered tone of voice to the blonde haired heiress.

"I bet you would Daphne." Kelly replied, chuckling a bit as she spoke.

"Anyway… if you really want to hear this, then I guess we better tell you. Miss Larson, when we were in the mausoleum, we spotted a trail of blood coming from one of the coffins; when we lifted the lid off of the coffin though, we saw something unspeakably horrible." Fred explained.

"Like what?" Kelly asked.

"Well Miss Larson, when we opened up the coffin… we found…. Well, we found a corpse." Fred said simply.

"Good gracious, whose corpse was it?" Kelly asked, with a hint of curiosity in her voice.

"Well, since you asked. It was the corpse of your father Miss Larson." Fred explained, although he secretly wished he hadn't said what he said.

"My father? Dead? H-how can that be?" Kelly asked, with a bit of a stammer in her voice and tears beginning to stain her cheeks.

"We don't know Miss Larson. Although we do know this, we think it was most likely fake; because after we saw the bloody corpse, we found Mr. Larson's ghost hovering above us, wanting us to leave the mausoleum and the grounds for good." Fred replied.

"I don't understand. I overheard my father planning to kill my mother, so if he's dead, then does that mean he killed her and then himself?" the blonde heiress questioned.

"I'm not sure Miss Larson. But if you did hear this, then what we have to do is find your mother." Fred responded.

"Um, except for one thing Fred: Mr. Larson's ghost, or whoever that was told us that Mrs. Larson was dead." Daphne added.

"Not my mother too!" Kelly Larson replied, feeling a little flushed as she spoke.

"Miss Larson, are you alright?" Fred asked.

"I-I don't know. I-it's just that now you say my mother's dead too; and I know my father did it before he died somehow." Kelly answered.

"I'm not sure about that Miss Larson." Fred replied.

"You're not sure? You just said my father and mother were dead, and now you're not sure?" Kelly responded, her voice raised a few octaves as she spoke.

"Well, upon further examination we think that corpse might be fake." Daphne replied simply.

"Hang on a second, if my father's dead, and my mother's dead, and you guys apparently saw my father's corpse, why do you think the corpse was fake?" Kelly asked, wiping away the tears with a tissue she retrieved from a nearby box of tissues.

"Well first, why would there be a corpse of your father, if there was also a ghost?" Fred stated.

"And second, we also found a projector in the mausoleum; actually Freddie found that one to be honest. Although when you add those things up, it without a doubt equals a fraud; in other words, someone wants to stop us from getting that money, and whoever it is, they're not above attempted murder, scaring us to death, and making this mansion seem like it's haunted to accomplish their goals." Daphne replied.

"But who, and why? Who would want to stop you guys from getting the money that's promised to all of you if you stay the night here?" Kelly inquired.

"That's what we don't know at the moment." Daphne answered.

"Although, we do have some suspects." Fred replied.

"Really? Like who?" Kelly inquired.

"Well, like the members of the staff. The butlers, the maids, any one of them could want to stop us from spending the night here." Fred explained.

"Right, and there's a definite possibility that they're not alone. It's possible that your parents might be involved with this somehow as well." Daphne added.

"My parents? Why would they want to stop you guys from spending the night? Wouldn't they want to give away a million dollars to each of you?" Kelly wondered.

"Right now Miss Larson, we're not sure who we can and can't trust. There's a million reasons, pardon the pun, why someone would want to prevent us from staying the night here, and right now we've got to examine all possibilities as far as who the culprit is." Daphne replied.

"The only question is how are we going to find out who the guilty party is?" Velma pondered.

"Well, during all the mysteries I joined you guys for, Fred always made some kind of trap. Or there was some sort of trap that was set up to catch the bad guy; and Shaggy and my Uncle Scooby are usually used to capture the villain. Or sometimes one of them would drive out the villain, resulting in his or her capture." Scrappy explained.

"True, very true Scrappy. The only problem I foresee is that there might be more then one villain in this mystery. And whoever it is, they're going to be a lot different then our usual cases; partly because whoever's trying to stop us might resort to bodily harm." Velma replied.

"Right; whoever's trying to scare us away means serious business. So we have to all be very careful the rest of the time we're here." Scrappy answered.

"Don't worry Scrappy, like Scooby and I will be on our guards for sure. And I'll make sure to keep a very close eye on Velma especially." Shaggy replied, pulling the bespectacled young woman close to him, which she seemed to enjoy,

"And Daphne and I will each keep our guard up as well. Right Daphne?" Fred asked, pulling the redhead close to him, just like how Shaggy pulled Velma close to him, mainly so that he could protect her from any danger.

"Right Freddie, and I know you're going to keep a close eye on me as well." Daphne replied, smiling all the while.

"I'm glad you guys are keeping an eye on each other, but I hope someone keeps an eye on me as well." Kelly said, looking a bit nervous at the moment.

"Don't worry Miss Larson, if something has happened to your parents, we'll all watch over you. After all, that's what friends are for." Scrappy replied, looking over at the rest of the gang, who all produced bright smiles before looking back over at Kelly Larson who was also beaming a bit.

"Thanks guys; you know you six are the best friends a girl could ever have. I mean seriously, with all the stuff that's been going on around here tonight, most of my other friends would have split long ago. But you guys stuck around, and aren't going to get scared off by some ghost or monster; that's true friendship, and quite frankly, I'm glad I'm a fan of you guys." Kelly explained, before walking over to each member of the gang and hugging them in a gesture of friendship.

When she came to Scrappy Doo however, the blonde haired beauty picked up the diminutive Great Dane and hugged him, at least for starters. The blonde heiress then delivered a friendly smooch on the young pup's cheek, which made him once again blush, and made his cheeks feel warm, which he liked.

"Thanks Kelly, you're really cool you know that? I mean I know I said that before, but you are really cool. You're a good friend, and I would be very happy if, well if you were my owner." Scrappy remarked, before putting his hand to his mouth.

"Scrappy, did you just say what I think you said?" Daphne asked, sounding a bit surprised at the young Dane's comment.

"I'm sorry Daphne, it's just that… well, I really like Kelly, she reminds me of you in a way. And with you guys running around solving mysteries, you guys might not be there to help me or cheer me up. All in all, Kelly's a neat person, and while you guys are awesome, I think she's really the perfect friend for me. Basically I'm saying that maybe, maybe it's time for me to make a new start; maybe this is the place for me, hanging out with Kelly and her parents hopefully and her family." Scrappy explained.

"Scrappy, I never knew you felt like this. I mean I know you, Scooby and I traveled around having adventures for a while, but you always seemed to have fun with us. And then when Daphne joined us for a while, you said you enjoyed having adventures and solving mysteries." Shaggy replied.

"I know Shaggy, I know. But now that I'm a graduated police dog, I need to settle down, maybe have a stable home for a while, maybe get my thoughts together, that kind of stuff." Scrappy answered.

"Well Scrappy, if you really feel that way, then after we solve this mystery, we can talk about seeing if you can stay here. If you really want to that is…" Fred remarked.

"It is what I would like Fred, and don't worry, I'll still visit you guys every once in a while, and I still would love to solve mysteries with all of you. Besides, solving mysteries and hanging out with my Uncle Scooby is really fun, and I would love to continue to do it, but just not on a regular basis." Scrappy replied.

"We understand Scrappy, and you know, we might have to think about settling down as well. I mean with Fred and Daphne as writers, and then me with my NASA job and owning the bookstore, plus Shaggy and Scooby working with me and helping me out there, not mention them owning a restaurant. All in all, we need to think about our futures; heck, we might even want to have kids someday, and the last thing we want or need is us running around haunted houses with kids in tow." Velma explained.

"Like you're right Velma; and there's a few other jobs that I've been thinking about as well. And you know, maybe we can have kids someday; like for example, I would love to have a son or a daughter." Shaggy remarked, before putting his arm around Velma.

"I'd like that too Shaggy, although I think a daughter would be nice." The bespectacled young woman replied.

"I think thinking about the future is a great idea. I mean it's exactly like what Velma said, we can't run around solving mysteries forever; we'll definitely have to think about retiring someday soon." Fred remarked, putting his arm around Daphne as he spoke.

"I really like solving crimes and mysteries. But you're right Freddie; although, maybe someday, if we do have kids, maybe we can pass along what we've learned to them, and maybe there will be a new generation of meddling kids in the future." Daphne replied, chuckling a little as she spoke.

"Maybe, maybe." Fred responded.

"For now though let's not worry about the future, let's talk about the present." Daphne replied.

"Right; because we've still got to solve this mystery. And we've still got to find out what happened to Mr. and Mrs. Larson." Fred answered.

While Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy, Scooby, Scrappy and Kelly Larson discussed their plan of action, whatever that might be, the group of mystery solvers and their blonde comrade heard the distinct sound of thunder outside the mansion. Normally the thunder wouldn't be such a big deal to them, but this time it was a very big deal because it was about to lead to all manner of hell breaking loose inside Larson Mansion.

"Jeepers, listen to that storm outside. Sounds like it's barely let up at all from when we got here." Daphne remarked.

"Yeah, it certainly seems that way." Fred replied.

The thunder that boomed outside the mansion however was not going to be the only thing that Mystery Inc. was going to have to worry about very soon. A few moments later, the loud thunder was accompanied by a distinct fluttering sound; Fred and Daphne figured they had escaped the strange sound when they escaped the passageway and made their way into the mausoleum, but as usual, they were wrong again.

"Jeepers! Not again!" Daphne declared, as she and the others witnessed a large flock of bats entering the living room.

"Zoinks! Bats!" Shaggy added, with a terrified tone in his voice, as he attempted to swat away the winged creatures.

"Jinkies, where did they come from?" Velma replied, grabbing hold of Shaggy's arm as she spoke.

"Like who knows, and who cares. Let's just hope they fly the coop, and soon!" Shaggy declared.

So far, Mystery Inc. had experienced bats, and thunder, but that wasn't it, not by a long shot. A few moments later, the team of intrepid sleuths began to hear yet another rather unpleasant sound. In this case, it was the distinct sound of moaning and groaning, which seemed to terrify Scooby Doo and his friends, as they stood in the living room.

"I really, really hope that's your stomach Shaggy." Daphne quipped.

"Like I hate to disappoint you Daphne, but that's not my stomach." Shaggy replied.

"Jinkies, then I hope that's not what I think it is." Velma added.

"Reah, re reither." Scooby agreed.

At that exact moment however, outside of the mansion, there was another tremendous flash of lightning and thunder, which seemed to light up the entire living room, as well as most of the other rooms on the first floor of the mansion as well. However, there was something else that the gang had to worry about, besides the thunder; while they stood in the living room, Fred and Daphne witnessed an unspeakably horrible sight, as they saw a grotesque looking creature walking from a corridor that led away from the living room, into said room.

"Jeepers, what is that?" Daphne asked, with a terrified look on her face, and in her voice.

"If I had to guess, I would say that's a zombie. But that's impossible." Velma remarked.

"Why is that impossible? It's walking right into the living room, whatever it is." Shaggy replied, with an audible gulp.

"I g-guess you're right Shaggy, I guess it is possible." Velma responded nervously.

Soon the thunder, bats, and zombie were about to be joined by another horrible sight. As another thunderclap flashed thought the night skies, Scooby and company heard the unmistakable sound of what seemed to be roaring. But of course that was impossible, or was it?

Mystery Inc. was about to receive the answer to that question as the roaring continued, and before long the gang witnessed a strange winged creature flying into the living room, via a fireplace which the gang had already seen when they entered the house. The gang was quite perplexed by this, after all, when they came into the mansion, the fireplace had a roaring fire going in it. But now, the gang saw the fireplace was empty, except for the strange winged being flying right towards them.

"Zoinks! Like duck!" Shaggy declared, as he took hold of Velma's arm before the two of them ducked down in order to avoid the winged creature.

"Good grief! That looks like the gargoyle that was chasing me earlier!" Kelly said with a shriek, before ducking herself to avoid the flying being.

So far Mystery Inc. had to deal with bats, thunder, a zombie and now a gargoyle. But as they say, the worst was yet to come for the intrepid youngsters and their canines. Once again, there was a tremendous flash of lightning outside the great mansion, and with it would bring the final supernatural foes that Larson Mansion had to offer.

After the lightning flash outside the house, the gang began to hear the distinct sounds of chain rattling, and moaning. Both of those things were usually indications of people who usually had already passed on, who were ready to make a comeback in the world we all know and make our home; but for Scooby Doo and the gang, these noises were going to result in the final challenge they would have to face, before they could collect their massive payday for this very difficult mystery.

"Jeepers, what's going on?" Daphne asked, holding onto Fred's arm as she spoke.

"I don't know Daphne, and I don't know if I want to find out either." Fred replied, with a bit of a shaky voice.

Fred was a bit shocked that he was speaking in a manner like the way he was currently speaking. Although when faced with creatures and spirits like the ones in Larson Mansion, the blond haired unofficial leader of Mystery Inc. could certainly see why he sounded terrified of what was to come.

Suddenly, as Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy, Scooby, Scrappy and Kelly Larson watched creatures that would belong more in a nightmare then in real life, everything that currently was in the house seemed to become much clearer. The gang of young sleuths and their newfound friend had stunned looks on each of their faces as they watched two spectral beings enter the living room, one each from either portion of said room.

The first spectral being had the appearance of a well dressed woman, with dark brown hair, a dark blue dress and blue heels. While the second spectral being had the appearance of a well dressed businessman, also with dark brown hair, wearing a pinstriped business suit, dark grey slacks, and brown loafers.

To Scooby Doo and his friends, these beings looked like phantoms or ghosts, at least on the surface. But deep down, they knew that these beings wanted their heads, or at least wanted to get rid of them in any way possible; the two specters looked to also have smiles on their faces, which perplexed Mystery Inc., although maybe this was a sign of things to come for them, or maybe not.

What did these specters want? Why were they in the living room in the first place? Why were they smiling, and why were they haunting Scooby Doo and his friends anyway?

Those questions would all soon be answered, although maybe the cowardly Great Dane sleuth and his friends might not want them answered. Because the answers they were going to get could very well lead to all of their retirements as detectives, or something much, much worse: their deaths.

**Author's Notes: I couldn't really think of much to say here, but the story will get resolved in the next couple of chapters I can promise that. Although believe it or not, I think I typed this chapter up in like two or three days; I guess it was because the weather where I live was nice and sunny this weekend, that might be what caused that to happen, or maybe not.**

**Anyway, I have a few things in store for Scooby Doo and his friends in the last couple chapters of this fan fic. And possibly some surprises as well; all I can tell you is to keep checking out my account and see what I post. Oh, and I'm working on other fan fics as well, believe me I have a wealth of ideas that I haven't gotten to yet, although I will definitely work on them soon.**


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Tremendous crashes of thunder, and a few bolts of lightning lit up the night skies outside Larson Mansion, a several hundred year old house, located about 50 or so miles from the small town of Coolsville, Ohio. Coolsville happens to be the home of a certain group of young adults, all in their mid twenties, who made somewhat of a living solving mysteries, both around the area, around the state, and around the United State, not to mention the entire country.

This group of young adults is known as Mystery Incorporated or Mystery Inc. for short, and is composed of six members. The six members of Mystery Inc. are Fred Jones, Daphne Blake, Velma Dinkley, Shaggy Rogers, Scooby Doo, and his nephew Scrappy Doo; for their current mystery however, the group is seven members, as a blonde haired high school student named Kelly Larson has joined them in their investigation of her home.

Kelly is the daughter of Franklin and April Larson, who hired Mystery Inc. to investigate the Larson Mansion, and to hopefully solve the mystery of the house's long and somewhat sordid history as far as the supernatural went. But solving the mystery of the house was not going to be as easy as Scooby Doo and company thought when they first arrived at the mansion; earlier in the evening, Mrs. Larson vanished, seemingly without a trace from her and her husband's bedroom.

That was soon followed by Franklin Larson asking the team of sleuths to investigate his wife's disappearance, which after some initial trepidation; they decided to take this case as well, while still investigating the house's ghosts as well. Later, Mr. Larson vanished from his bedroom as well, which the Larsons daughter Kelly found as she decided to make like Scooby Doo and company and try her own investigation.

During the course of the rest of the night, after the disappearance of both of the elder Larsons, Scooby Doo, Scrappy Doo and the rest of their friends tried to figure out what was really happening in the seemingly haunted house. In addition, they attempted to try and figure out where both of the elder Larsons were, and if they were indeed no longer anywhere on the grounds.

So far during their investigation, Shaggy and Velma had seen a fully dressed skeleton hanging in a closet in an upstairs room. For Fred and Daphne, they had found a secret passageway which started behind one of the library's bookcases, and which eventually led to the Larson family Mausoleum of all places. In the passageway though, Fred and Daphne found bats, an ugly looking zombie, and spider webs, dust, and darkness among other things.

After making their way to the mausoleum, the duo found a coffin with a trail of blood leading away from it. In addition, once they opened said coffin, they found what appeared to be a blood soaked corpse. However, the body in the coffin wasn't an ordinary one at all, in fact it appeared to be the body of Mr. Franklin Larson, who more then likely wouldn't be able to award the gang their money for sticking around the mansion for the night.

But soon Fred and Daphne were met with something rather unusual, as they searched for clues. In this case, it was the fact that the two youngsters found what seemed to be the ghost of Mr. Larson, haunting the mausoleum and attempting to scare Fred and Daphne out of their wits. In addition to that, they noticed that the bloody corpse of Mr. Larson had stood up, walked out of the coffin and was now standing in front of it, while watching the gang like a hawk.

Although as the duo watched the blood smeared zombie, for lack of a better word, they were curious as to why there was a ghost of the man, while the man himself stood in front of the coffin. On a search for more clues, Fred and Daphne found a secret projector, and realized that quite possibly they were being duped into believing there was actually a zombie and a ghost.

While Fred and Daphne were in the midst of their search, Scooby and Scrappy were doing their own search on the grounds of the mansion. However, the two Great Danes, other then finding a spooky cemetery on the grounds, failed to really make a dent with their search for clues as to the disappearances of Mr. and Mrs. Larson, as well as the haunted history of Larson Mansion.

Fast forward a few hours, as Scooby, Scrappy, Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Kelly Larson reunited, and together the seven sleuths started looking for clues in the living room of the mansion. Although the gang were actually more interested in resting, rather then clue searching, however they all wouldn't have very long to relax. For as the gang tried to piece the clues they had found so far, Mystery Inc. was about to witness one of, if not the scariest sight of their lives.

After several flashes of lightning and thunder, the gang was inundated with bats, a zombie, a gargoyle, and worst of all: two very familiar and very frightening specters. While Scooby Doo and his friends watched the terrifying sight of these nightmarish figures lumbering through the living room, towards where they were standing, horrifying thoughts began running through the members of Mystery Inc.'s heads.

For Fred and Daphne, it was thought of the bats flying above their heads, before swooping down and beginning to peck at them like vultures would pick at a dead animal in the desert. For Shaggy and Velma, their thoughts turned to the horrifying zombies attempting to take a swipe at them, and if the zombie was able to connect with the skin on one of their bodies.

Velma Dinkley shivered next to her boyfriend; thoughts running through her head now of the zombie dragging her or Shaggy back to the grave with him. She and he then hugged each other tightly, not letting go of one another for anything. Because both of them knew if they did let go of each other, the zombie would continue to advance on them, eventually catching up to one of them.

While for Kelly Larson, her thoughts were on the Gargoyle that she had to deal with earlier in the night. Usually gargoyles were mythical creatures, and were asleep during the daylight hours, or more specifically as stone statues. But this Gargoyle was alive, even thought it was the nighttime, and clearly he wanted to scare the young woman as much as possible.

However, more thoughts began running through Kelly Larson's head, but this time they were rather unpleasant. Kelly Larson began thinking what this gargoyle could possibly want, and whatever it was, would she survive it? Of course that thought would be rather silly, but the blonde haired heiress did run through her head the possibility that the gargoyle, who she figured was male, might want to turn her into a gargoyle somehow, and possibly make her his bride of all things.

Naturally Kelly Larson immediately dismissed this thought, as it was rather unbelievable, and maybe impossible, or maybe not. For Scooby Doo and Scrappy Doo, their thoughts by looking over and thinking about what their friends must be going though. The two Danes had been through so much in the past, and had been faced with so many dangers in their time as detectives, but now they were faced with a terror a thousand times worse then anything they had ever faced in the past.

Scooby and Scrappy's eyes were wide as saucers as they watched the two specters floating above their hands, before beginning to think about what the two of them could possibly want from the pair of Great Danes. Was it really possible that the two ghosts, for lack of a better word wanted something from the two Great Danes?

Was it at all possible that these two spirits wanted to turn Scooby and Scrappy into ghosts? Velma was usually the one that could come up with good and reasonable scientific explanations for everything, but this time she couldn't possibly come up with a reason why the two ghosts seemingly wanted something from Scooby and Scrappy.

Altogether the six members of Mystery Inc. and their newfound comrade in arms had gone through a lot during the mystery at Larson Mansion. As they stood in the living room, watching their supernatural foes converge on them, they all realized that they wouldn't have changed a single thing about their current case.

They were all together, they were all healthy, for now, and they were doing what they loved the most: solving a mystery, which could very well prove to be their last. That is if the bats, zombie and ghosts got any closer to them, and disposed of them, which they clearly all wanted to do, judging by the looks on all of their faces.

"F-Freddie, what are we going to do?" Daphne asked, nervously, while holding onto Fred's arm as she spoke.

"I don't know what we can do Daph, we might be stuck." Fred replied.

The two specters that were flying around the group of young people's heads swooped down on them, albeit barely missing them, and I do mean barely. In fact, as the two spirits came closer to the team of sleuths, Scooby and Scrappy Doo could feel the cold breath of the two apparitions on their necks, wilting their fur a bit, if that was at all possible.

"R-ri ron't rant to rie!" Scooby whimpered, all the while managing to protect his nephew from the danger that surrounded them.

"Me neither Uncle Scooby, me neither!" Scrappy replied, with a nervous tone in his voice.

Although the younger of the two Great Danes was usually brave and courageous, this time he couldn't help but feel scared and afraid. The danger that he, his Uncle and their friends were facing was not a mere man in a mask, like the group's usual mysteries. In point of fact, the danger that he, his uncle and their friends were facing was real, unadulterated horror, at the hands of these terrifying ghosts and supernatural creatures.

After the two specters stopped flying around the gang's heads, they returned to a neutral position inside the room. At first, Scooby Doo and friends weren't quite sure why they were doing this and what purpose this had. Although before long they all knew that whatever purpose the two ghosts had for torturing the group like this probably had something to do with something truly sinister, whatever that may have been.

Despite their natural fur coats, Scooby and Scrappy were shivering, and felt quite cold as they watched the two ghosts continue to float around the ceiling of the mansion's living room. This was a natural feeling for someone who was in the presence of ghosts; strictly speaking, as Velma once explained to the pair of Great Danes, because they were the representations of people who have passed on, they usually emitted a kind of natural air freshener.

Granted it may have been unusual to say that a ghost would have something like a natural air freshener, but after all, ghosts were people who had already shed their mortal bodies. So because of what ghosts, spirits, phantoms and apparitions were, they were more then likely capable of anything, including what they were trying to do to the mystery solving Great Danes, and their friends.

After waiting in silence for several minutes, and several more minutes of an agonizing wait, while thinking more about what the ghosts, bats, and zombie could do to the gang, the two spirits floated down to the floor of the of the living room. Now the two spirits were on eye level with the adolescent investigators, watching them, looking them over and mentally licking their chops as it were.

The two spirits found themselves mentally chuckling, while looking and thinking to see what else they could do to the gang to torture them. To the pair of ghosts that were only a few yards away from the gang, Scooby Doo and his friends were no more of a challenge to them then any other person, or animal anywhere in the world.

Not only were they not a challenge, but these two ghosts could see that the sight of Mystery Inc. was utterly laughable, and had no idea on how to stop the hauntings of Larson Mansion once and for all. After all, what could a group of young adults, and two Great Danes possibly do to hurt the two spirits anyway?

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" the male spirit declared, in a booming, almost thunderous voice.

The male spirit's voice stunned the members of Mystery Inc., mostly because it was so commanding and authoritative. In fact as the spirit began speaking, Scooby Doo and company were all very nearly knocked off their feet and paws because of its manner of speech, and because as the ghost spoke, it seemed like the entire house rattled and shook. All this was in addition to the thunder and lightning that continued to light up the Ohio skies, which silhouetted the mansion in an eerie yellow glow.

"So, these are the ghost hunters that intend to stop the spirits of Larson Mansion from their intended tasks?" the male voice said, while his voice boomed throughout the living room and downstairs portion of the mansion itself.

"Yes, they're the ones alright." The female spirit replied, before cackling evilly as she spoke.

"Poor deluded fools; these meddling kids and their dogs have no idea how to handle real supernatural occurrences." The male spirit responded.

"Yes, they seem to think that because they have solved many mysteries over the years that they are professionals!" the female spirit declared.

"Professionals, Ha!" the male spirit replied, as the lightning flashed yet again outside the mansion.

As the two spirits looked at the gang, while they pointed and laughed menacingly, Scooby Doo, Shaggy, Fred, Daphne, Velma and Kelly Larson shivered in terror. Clearly the two ghosts had the gang spooked, and it was clear to all involved, that this might be a situation that the chicken hearted, but kind Great Dane and his companions would not escape.

After several minutes of a very uneasy silence between the seven sleuths, and the two ghosts, the unofficial leader of Mystery Inc. finally decided to break the silence. His main goal was hoping to reason with the two spirits, and get them to leave the gang alone for good; however, if he couldn't do that, then who knows what would happen to him and the rest of his friends.

"W-what do you want from us?" Fred finally said, with a nervous tone in his voice.

"What do we want? What do we want?" the female spirit said, echoing the young man's statement in a voice that would make your skin crawl if you heard it.

"What we want is all of you. You see, you failed to leave this house before the night was over, so therefore you must remain here for the rest of your natural lives!" the male spirit declared, as the windows began rattling and shaking while he spoke.

"You can't do that, we're simply guests here! We didn't do anything to ever hurt or harm you, we're innocent!" Daphne responded, holding onto her blond boyfriend for dear life.

"You didn't do anything huh? You meddling brats have spent way too long here, and for that you must be punished!" the female spirit replied, as she raised her right hand skyward; after she did this, the ceiling, and the chandelier hanging from said ceiling began to shake.

Upon looking at the ceiling, Daphne Blake figured the roof might cave in very soon, or at the very least the chandelier would collapse onto the floor, and possibly injure or kill one of the members of Mystery Inc. in the process. The wealthy red head of the group of sleuths was as terrified of this situation as Fred Jones was, and clearly the both of them pictured themselves somewhere else at the moment, or rather anywhere else other then were they were currently.

"You have no right to do all of this! We're not evil, and we're not bad people, we just want to do our job, and that's to stay here for one night. There's no reason why you two should be haunting us!" Velma explained, her voice raised a few octaves as she spoke.

"Oh really? Well then tell us what you're going to do when we do this!" the male spirit declared, as the bats began flying around the gang's heads again. While at the same time, Velma took the arm of Shaggy and hung onto it as if her life and career depending on it; which judging by what was happening at the moment, it probably did.

"Will you please stop it with the bats, and the lightning, and everything else! I'm really scared; I don't like all of this!" Kelly Larson declared, putting her hands in front of her eyes as she spoke.

"Scared huh? Well young lady, that's what happens when you mess around with ghosts and evil spirits, this kind of thing will happen!" the female spirit replied, as lightning flashed yet again outside the house; only this time, the upper portion of the mansion began shaking, which caused the bottom part of the house to slightly tremble as well.

"Kelly, are you really scared of all this?" Scrappy inquired, as the young pup was standing next to Scooby Doo, who was standing within the vicinity of Kelly.

"I am Scrappy, I am; in fact, if this keeps up I think my heart is going to stop." Kelly replied, breathing a bit heavily as she spoke.

"I hope not Kelly, I hope not. I think you're a cool person, and I would hate to see you dead." Scrappy replied, smiling over at the young woman as he spoke.

"I know Scrappy, I know." Kelly responded, as she and the two Great Danes shivered in terror at the two spirits.

Once again, the bats began flying around the heads of Scooby and his friends. Then, the zombie began growling and walking towards the Great Dane and company, and finally the two spirits raised their hands to the sky, causing thunder and lightning to cover the skies outside the mansion. In addition, the mansion began shaking once more; but in this case, the windows, upper level and lower level of the house were all shaking and trembling all at once.

"L-like t-that's it! We're all going to die, I know it!" Shaggy shouted, with tears starting to stream down his cheeks.

"I hate to say it Shaggy, but I think you're right, we're done for!" Velma replied, with tears also streaming down her face.

"I didn't think our careers as detectives would ever end this way, but I guess I was wrong. All I can say is it's been nice knowing you gang and I hope this ends quickly." Scrappy said, with an absolutely petrified tone in his voice.

"Ri ron't rant rus ro all rie, ri rant ro rive!" Scooby replied, making sure his last minutes on Earth would be spent protecting his diminutive nephew.

"I really enjoyed meeting you guys, but I don't want to die either!" Kelly Larson said, audibly gasping as the supernatural foes of the gang began coming closer to them.

"Fred." Daphne remarked.

"Yes Daphne?" Fred asked, clearly as terrified as the rest of Mystery Inc. was.

"If this is truly the end, will you always remember me, and never forget me?" Daphne inquired, turning to her boyfriend while holding onto his arms for dear life.

"Yes Daphne, I will always remember you. And I will never, ever forget you." Fred replied, as he and Daphne engaged in a hug that was both friendly and very romantic at the same time.

While Fred and Daphne hugged each other, they watched as they and their friends were continually menaced by the evil forces of Larson Mansion. At the same time, Velma and Shaggy were hugging each other as well, and Scooby, Scrappy and Kelly were close to each other, making sure no member of the trio would be harmed by the supernatural forces of the mansion.

Once again the bats swooped down on the gang, while the zombie got even closer to them at the same time. While the two spirits floated closer and closer to Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy, Scooby, Scrappy and Kelly as the seconds and minutes dragged by; soon, the gang could feel the breath of the zombie and the two spirits on their faces, and it was clear that very soon, Mystery Inc. would meet their end in Larson Mansion.

However, the gang was about to be very shocked, and would witness something they would never expect or would have ever expected in the course of their lives, or the course of their mystery solving careers as a matter of fact. What they would have never expected, or would have never predicted was the fact that the two spirits began laughing out of the blue as they continued watching Scooby and company squirm in terror.

Normally Scooby Doo and company would be very scared at this, and would be dripping with sweat at the fact that these two spirits were toying with the young adults. But this time, things were different; this time, it seemed that the two ghosts were laughing in a manner that someone would if they were watching a funny movie or TV show.

It was also a fact that Scooby Doo and his friends noticed, as they tried to figure out why these spirits seemed to be making fun of them in their time of terror.

"Um, I don't see what's so funny about this." Fred stated.

"Yeah, do the two of you think it's funny when people are scared?" Daphne added, with a question of her own.

"Miss Blake, you mean you don't recognize us?" the female spirit asked.

"No, we don't recognize us, should we?" Daphne responded.

The female spirit waited a few minutes before answering the red head's question. But the answer she would give the red headed heiress would surprise her like nothing had ever surprised her ever before.

The female spirit now seemed to be standing on the floor, like a human being, as opposed to floating around like a spirit usually did. But as she stood watching the gang, she did something completely unexpected; she reached for her face and pulled it off. However, instead of a ghostly face, underneath her spectral face was that of a human face, and a very familiar human face as well.

"Mrs. Larson? I don't believe it!" Daphne declared, clearly looking as shocked as the rest of Mystery Inc. was.

"I guess we've been found out; all right Franklin, you can take your mask off now." Mrs. Larson replied, turning to the male spirit.

"Thank goodness, this thing itches like you wouldn't believe!" the male spirit added, taking off his face as well. But in reality, the male spirit had a human face underneath his spectral one, or more specifically, a very familiar human face, which Mystery Inc. noticed as they witnessed yet another shock.

"Mr. Larson? What's going on here?" Fred wondered, as he watched Mr. Larson emerge from his, for lack of a better word: disguise.

"I wouldn't mind knowing that as well. In fact, I would like an explanation sooner, rather then later." Kelly Larson replied, with her hands on her hips, and looking clearly annoyed with her parents.

"We're truly, truly sorry Kelly dear. We never thought things would get this far." Mrs. Larson explained.

"Your mother's right sweetheart, we had no idea this little joke of ours would get blown so far out of proportion." Mr. Larson added.

"A joke? Is that all this whole night was: a joke?" Kelly asked, eyes blazing with anger as she spoke.

"We're sorry honey; to be honest this whole night was a test. We never thought you would get involved, and we certainly never thought that you would come after us, to try and find out what happened to the two of us." Mr. Larson replied.

"Well, the two of you raised a pretty brave daughter, that's for sure. Despite what kind of shenanigans the two of you were up to, you guys are my parents; I had to do my own investigation, and I had to look through the house and grounds to see what happened to you guys." Kelly responded, dipping her head in defeat a bit.

"Kelly, that was very irresponsible of you. If the ghosts or monsters that inhabited the house got a hold of you, they might have harmed you, and then where would we be?" Mr. Larson replied, looking clearly disappointed with his daughter, at least at first.

"I know dad, but I had to go in search of the two of you. I mean Daphne would have done the same thing if she was in my shoes, I know that." Kelly Larson answered, while looking over at the red head as she spoke.

"I'm sure she would have, but still it was very irresponsible and dangerous for you to come look for us. And to try and investigate the house with the rest of Mystery Inc. as well; Daphne and her friends are professionals in this business, and someone who hasn't had much experience with ghosts and such might get themselves hurt, or even worse." Mr. Larson explained.

"I know dad and mom, and I'm sorry. I guess my sense of adventure got the better of me." Kelly said, dipping her head and frowning as she spoke.

"It's quite all right dear, I understand what you were trying to do. Your mother and I both understand what you were trying to do, and I know if I were in your shoes, I would try to do the same thing." Mr. Larson replied, walking over to his daughter as she spoke.

"Your father is right honey, and I would have done the same thing as well." Mrs. Larson added, as she walked over to her daughter to join her, and her father.

"You both would have come looking for your parents if they were missing?" Kelly asked.

"Sure we would. And if you were missing, we would have done the same thing; we both would have stopped what we were doing in order to look for you." Mrs. Larson replied, smiling at her daughter as she spoke.

"Wow, you guys are the coolest parents a girl could ever have." Kelly remarked, before her parents took turns hugging her. After her parents were finished with their hugs, the blonde heiress took her turn hugging her mother, and then her father. Clearly both of them were as glad to see their daughter as their daughter was to see her parents, and clearly all three of them were happy that things were relatively back to normal.

However, as Scooby Doo and his friends watched the reunion of the Larsons take place, there were a few things they couldn't understand. So, they decided to ask their hosts just what they had been doing all night, and what the secret of Larson Mansion really was, if there was one that is.

"Mr. Larson, this whole thing makes absolutely no sense. And I think before we go any further, we deserve some explanation as to what you two were planning for us." Fred stated, while looking over to the rest of Mystery Inc. for advice.

However, the looks on all of the gang's faces said more then any of them ever could say. Specifically speaking, each of the six sleuths wanted more information on this supposed hoax that the Larsons had planned, and if the two of them were being truthful with what they were about to say to them.

"Very well Fred, what would you like to know first?" Mr. Larson asked.

"For starters, how did you make your wife disappear before we came into your bedroom?" Fred inquired.

"That part was fairly simple. Before I left for the bathroom, and to get myself some water, I pushed a secret button underneath the top of the nightstand on my side of the bed. The button activated a hidden switch which caused the wall of the bedroom to swing around into a specially built secret panel. After the wall swung around, April more then likely found herself in a secret corridor hidden behind the wall." Mr. Larson explained to a fairly astonished Mystery Incorporated.

"Wait, like what happened after you were in the corridor Mrs. Larson?" Shaggy asked.

"Behind the hidden wall, as Franklin described, in addition to the corridor was a dressing room and storeroom. Because of our wealth, we keep things that are secret hidden for view, and we especially hide things from our competitors; because if someone working for another communications company ever got their hands on our books, or papers concerning the company, we could have trouble." Mrs. Larson replied.

"Why Mrs. Larson? Why would you have trouble if someone was to get their hands on the company records?" Daphne inquired.

"It's simple Miss Blake; the communications industry, especially the radio and television industry is a bit cutthroat. If someone were to discover how successful the company is, we would be prey to every takeover attempt possible, so that's why we like to hide our important documents." Mr. Larson replied.

"But what about tax time? Don't you guys ever have issues with the IRS?" Scrappy inquired.

"No, not at all. We usually get everything about our company out for tax time, and I believe we've never had an audit ever since the founding of the company." Mr. Larson replied.

"Interesting. Now what about the lightning and thunder, we seem to have seen a lot of that tonight." Daphne responded.

"That thunder and lightning was natural, remember, I told all of you about the storm and that the power might go out while you're here." Mr. Larson remarked.

"Which it did." Daphne replied.

"Indeed, now what other questions do all of you have?" Mr. Larson asked.

"What about Kelly telling us that you were planning on killing Mrs. Larson?" Fred inquired.

"Well, I have to admit: I made that up because I knew Kelly would try to tell you all about the test. Then, if she had spilled the beans about the test I had planned, it wouldn't have been any fun." Mr. Larson replied, laughing a bit as he spoke.

"Well it was a bit mean spirited dad; I mean I wouldn't have ruined things for the gang. I wouldn't have spilled the beans; you really didn't have to say that you were going to kill mom." Kelly responded, with her hands on her hips in a somewhat impatient manner as she spoke.

"I'm sorry dear; I didn't mean to cause trouble. Like I said, I guess this little test went a little bit too far." Mr. Larson replied, before walking back over to hug his daughter.

"Apology accepted dad. Just don't ever try and do or say anything like that ever again." Kelly responded.

"I'll try not to dear." Mr. Larson replied, chuckling a little as he spoke.

"That's all well and good, but what about that zombie that we saw. And that's still in here, with us, right now." Daphne noted, still a little nervous as she spoke.

"Ah, that's just the butler, Andrew whom you met earlier in the night. Andrew, would you mind unmasking yourself as the case may be?" Mr. Larson asked, motioning over at the grotesque looking zombie with his head.

"Gladly, although it's too bad I can't wear this outfit all night." A familiar male voice said, through the zombie mask; a few seconds later, said zombie pulled his mask off to indeed reveal the Larsons butler, who had shown the gang into the house, and had taken them over to Mr. and Mrs. Larson to speak with them.

"Jinkies, he does look like a zombie to be honest; no offense Andrew." Velma quipped.

"None taken ma'am." Andrew replied.

"OK, so what about that gargoyle that was chasing me around for a while?" Kelly said, remembering her experience in the family's garden.

"Ah yes, that was our maid Denise. Denise, would you mind?" Mr. Larson replied, motioning over to the winged creature who was also still in the living room.

"Not at all Mr. Larson sir. I never knew my Halloween costume from last year could be used in such a convincing manner." Said a female voice from through the face of the winged creature; a few seconds later, the gargoyle pulled its face off, to reveal that it was a mask, and that there was a middle aged woman with black hair underneath the mask.

"Jeepers, I had no idea that your staff was in on this as well Mr. Larson. What about everything else that we've experienced tonight? Like the bats." Daphne said, wondering aloud.

"Oh those. April and I volunteer at a couple of different animal shelters, and the local zoo. When we told them about what we wanted to do, they were reluctant at first, but when we promised we would take good care of them and wouldn't hurt or harm them in any way, they agreed to let us borrow some bats for tonight." Mr. Larson explained.

"Which reminds me Franklin, we have to get the bats back tomorrow. I think the zoo opens at 10 AM if I'm not mistaken." Mrs. Larson replied.

"I do believe you're right April. And I've already got a mental note for tomorrow to bring them back to the zoo." Mr. Larson responded.

"So let's see: we've talked about most everything we've seen. Oh, what about the bloody corpse we saw in the coffin, and the blood coming from it?" Daphne asked.

"Well, the corpse was a Halloween costume I wore from a couple years back. While the blood was a combination of fake blood, a few squibs, and some ketchup on the floor of the mausoleum." Mr. Larson replied.

"I knew it! I figured it was either ketchup, or jam or something." Fred remarked, with a bit of enthusiasm in his voice, at least at first.

"Yes Freddie, you were right." Daphne replied, patting the young man on the shoulder as she spoke.

"Squibs? Interesting; I know they're used in movies, when blood needs to be on someone. But this has got to be one of the most unusual uses for it I've ever heard of." Velma added.

"I didn't know you knew anything about movies Velma." Shaggy replied.

"Of course I do Shaggy. Remember, one of my aunts is an accountant at a movie studio, and one of my cousins, on my mother's side, is an actress. She's written me a few times about that kind of thing." Velma responded.

"Wow, like I didn't know your cousin was an actress." Shaggy replied, somewhat surprised at what his girlfriend had told him.

"Yep, she's a pretty nice person and a marvelous actress as well." Velma answered.

"I bet she is. Although there's still one more thing I want to know about." Shaggy replied.

"What's that Shaggy?" Velma asked.

"Well, we know about the zombie, the gargoyle, the bats, the corpse, and everything else. But what about that test thing Mr. Larson mentioned; what was that all about?" Shaggy replied, with a question of his own.

"That Shaggy is why I invited all of you here in the first place. Do you remember what I said about that I had a challenge for all of you?" Mr. Larson responded.

"Yes, we remember." Daphne replied.

"Well, that was an accurate statement. When I invited you here, it was after your father told me about your detective work miss Blake; what I wanted to do is plan a mystery, with the help of my wife, and staff that would give all of you a real fright, and would be challenging enough that it would take all night to solve." Mr. Larson explained.

"So, all of this was a test? And there were no ghosts or anything like that?" Shaggy asked.

"Well, this house does have a history of the supernatural. But the last supernatural event that occurred here was in 1920 or so; after that, dozens of ghost hunters have been here to try and prove that this place was still haunted, but no one could ever find any ghosts. So while this house was haunted at one point, it has been documented that there has been no ghost sightings in over a century." Mr. Larson replied.

"Phew, like that's a relief. So, what about Kelly, was she involved with this?" Shaggy inquired.

"Kelly knew nothing about this challenge. She was as in the dark as the six of you as a matter of fact." Mr. Larson replied.

"Jeepers, that's a long time to keep someone, much less six people, or rather five people and a Great Dane, plus Kelly in the dark." Daphne remarked.

"I know Miss Blake, but I had to keep this a secret from all of you. So that you would not be prepared for what was to come; we basically wanted to see how all of you would handle an incredibly haunted mansion, ghosts, zombies, dead bodies, gargoyles, etc." Mr. Larson explained.

"Well, you certainly gave us all a major fright. And it was certainly one of the most horrifying and ghastly experiences of our lives." Daphne replied.

"Sure was Daph, so I guess all that's left is to wrap things up." Fred remarked, holding onto the red head's arm as he spoke.

"Indeed Mr. Jones. I can truly say that you six have passed the challenge I have prescribed to you with flying colors. We wanted all of you to stay here for the night, without leaving and without calling for help, and I can truly say you have done that, and more." Mr. Larson explained.

"Thank you Mr. Larson, it was certainly an interesting experience to be sure." Daphne replied.

"Now then, I think I promised all six of you a reward if you completed the challenge. I believe it was something along the lines of six one million dollar checks, one million for each of you." Mr. Larson explained, before he walked over to a nearby desk and pulled out a leather checkbook and a pen.

"By the way, Mr. Larson, I would like to discuss something with you, Kelly and Mrs. Larson once you're done signing the checks." Scrappy stated.

"Certainly Scrappy, just let me come back over to where all of you are, and we'll finish things up here." Mr. Larson replied, now with checkbook and pen in hand.

"OK" Scrappy stated.

Franklin Larson then proceeded to open his leather bound check book, and wrote out six fairly identical checks. One to Fred Jones, one to Daphne Blake, one to Velma Dinkley, one to Norville Rogers, one to Scoobert Doo and then one to Scrappy Doo; after Franklin Larson handed the checks out to each person, and dog, he closed the checkbook, placed it and his pen in his pants pocket and smiled at the gang.

"There we are: six million dollar checks, one for each of you. Each check has been written out by me, and signed and dated; now the only the thing that each of you has to do is get your respective checks endorsed and then you may cash them. After that, you each will have one million dollars to do with as you wish." Mr. Larson explained.

"Thank you Mr. Larson; actually, we each have plans for the million dollars. We've already agreed to donate half of the amount to charity, and we're going to use half of the million dollars each of us now has for the future, possibly for any college funds that any children each of us might have." Daphne replied.

"Ah excellent! Charity is a wonderful thing to give money too; my wife and I both know there are plenty of places that could use the money that I gave you. Now, as for the other part of your statement, what about the future?" Mr. Larson asked, curious about what the members of Mystery Inc. could possibly mean.

"Well, Daphne and I would like to get married some day, and we might want our kids to have money for college." Fred stated.

"And like Velma and I would like to get married someday. And who knows, maybe we'll have kids, and we might need college money for them." Shaggy added.

"I completely understand, on both accounts. Now Scrappy, what was it that you wanted to speak to me about?" Mr. Larson replied.

"Well Mr. Larson, my uncle and I already discussed it with our friends. But basically what I wanted to say was if it was alright if I... lived with you two and Kelly." Scrappy explained.

"Scrappy, you already have people you live with… you have Scooby, your uncle, and Fred, Daphne and Velma. So why would you like to live with us?" Mr. Larson asked, with a curious look on his face.

"I know, but I talked to them and explained that I'm a retired police dog. And that I would like to settle down, maybe take a break from solving mysteries; Kelly's a really cool girl, and I would love if she was my master, and if I lived here." Scrappy explained.

"Well, we do have a lot of room. And we've been meaning to get a guard dog; although you're a bit young. But from what I heard from Daphne's father, you are an excellent dog, and very brave at that, so I guess…" Mr. Larson replied, drumming his fingers on his chin as he spoke.

"You guess what?" Scrappy asked, wondering what Mr. Larson was going to say.

"I guess, if it's all right with your friends, and with Kelly, then I suppose you can stay with us Scrappy." Mr. Larson replied.

Mere microseconds after Franklin Larson finished his statement, the rest of the gang applauded and cheered. Kelly Larson hugged her father, and then her mother; after that, Kelly Larson was hugged by her father and her mother. All three of them then hugged Scrappy Doo, who was now a new member of the Larson family; of course, the mere formalities had to be worked out, like adoption papers and such.

Naturally Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby thought it was a good idea for Scrappy to live at the Larson Mansion. In addition, Kelly and Mrs. Larson agreed that Scrappy being in the house would be good for the family, and needless to say Franklin Larson agreed to the idea, faster then you could say Halloween.

All in all, it was a happy ending for Mystery Inc., and it was a happy ending for the case the gang decided to title The Haunting Of Larson Mansion. After some more discussion between the gang, the Larsons, and their staff, the members of Mystery Inc. had a filling breakfast cooked by the mansion's kitchen staff, before wrapping things up with Mr. and Mrs. Larson, and saying their final goodbyes to Scrappy Doo.

It was a hard thing to do, especially for Scooby Doo. The elder Great Dane had been watching over his nephew for years, and had done an excellent job in teaching him all he knew, both about mysteries and about life. As Scooby and company said goodbye to the one time youngest member of Mystery Inc. they couldn't help but wonder what adventures Scrappy would have in the Larson Mansion, and what would become of him in the future.

After some tears from the gang, especially Shaggy, Daphne and Scooby Doo, who had spent more time with him then any other members of the group, Mystery Inc. walked out of the living room, and out the front door towards where they parked the Mystery Machine.

As Scrappy Doo, Franklin, Kelly and April Larson waved goodbye from the windows of the living room of Larson Mansion, the Mystery Machine headed off, through the long, winding road that led to the gates of the estate. Even though it was now around 10:30 AM, or so, and the sun was riding high in the sky after the downpour and storms of last night, all the passengers in the Mystery Machine felt as if they were riding into the sunset.

To tell the truth, as the gang rode off towards Coolsville and home, Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby Doo felt that it was the sunset of their careers. They had solved one of the most challenging and frightening cases of their careers, but they had also talked about the future, which was coming very soon, whether all of them liked it or not.

While this was the end of the mystery of Larson Mansion, this is by no means the end of our story. Would Scooby Doo and the gang continue to solve mysteries, would they continue to help people in need, and what of Scrappy and the Larson Family, what would happen to them? The answers of course to these questions, and others lie in the future, which has not been told just quite yet, but will be told very soon.

Author's Notes: Hopefully this was a decent way to end this chapter. By the way, I am going to provide an epilogue to this story, which will be in Chapter 16, which will be the final chapter of this story. And as always, I have other fan fics planned, which will be written and posted eventually on my Fan account, my Deviant Art account, and a few other places as well. As always keep checking those accounts for my stories; that's about it for now.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

**Epilogue**

After the Larson Mansion mystery/challenge, Mystery Inc. had a few more minor cases, but nothing as scary or major as the one at the aforementioned haunted mansion. Not that the gang minded it too much, as that was something they hoped they would never have to go through again for as long as they all lived, and not for all the money in the world.

Eventually, Mystery Inc. came to the decision that they had to retire from active mystery solving. Although with Shaggy's father the police chief of Coolsville, he still asked the gang and his son to do consulting work for the local police department every so often, which the gang were only happy to do.

Speaking of Shaggy and Velma, the two of them got married 2 years after the Larson Mansion case, with the gang in attendance of course. During the event, Shaggy's father beamed like any proud father would when his son or daughter got married; Shaggy's mother cried during the entire event, but they were tears of joy as her only son was finally getting married, and to someone as wonderful, smart and beautiful as Velma Dinkley, who he had been life long friends with.

For Velma's parents, they were also pleased that their daughter was getting married. Velma's father and Shaggy's father had a very pleasant chat during the wedding and the reception afterwards, as both of them had common ground. Their children had both grown up knowing each other, playing in the schoolyard with each other, and had solved mysteries together for who knows how long.

As far as Velma's mother and Shaggy's mother, the two of them both cried like little girls during the ceremony and reception. Granted this might be unusual for two grown women such as them to be crying a lot, but it was for a good reason; Velma and Shaggy had finally found someone who was just right for each of them. Of course who knew the two of them would start dating, then get engaged and then get married?

After the wedding and reception, Shaggy and Velma, with Scooby in tow of course, moved to Houston, Texas. Velma had been contacted by NASA a few years prior to the wedding of her and Shaggy, and had been informed that NASA wanted her as an official member of the agency; the bespectacled young woman jumped at this opportunity to become a research scientist, and Shaggy supported her decision to no end.

Luckily for Shaggy Rogers, one of the top restaurants in Houston had heard about his success as the owner of the restaurant in Coolsville he owned and offered him the same position at said restaurant. With Velma working for NASA, Shaggy realized that if he took the offer, he would be in the same city as Velma, and that they would still have a good marriage; so, with no doubts whatsoever, he accepted the position.

For Fred and Daphne, their long courtship also ended at the altar, but a few months after Shaggy and Velma. Fred's parents were incredibly happy with their son's decision to get married, after all, he had known Daphne for years, had solved mysteries with her forever, and had been dating her for some years as well.

Fred's parents and Daphne's parents had the usual reactions to their children getting married of course. Daphne's mother and father naturally paid for the entire wedding, reception and the pair's honeymoon as well, which they spent in Paris, which had long been one of Daphne's favorite destinations for a vacation.

The wedding went perfectly, as did the reception, and after the festivities were finished, Fred and Daphne made the decision to each pursue writing careers. Eventually the two of them decided to move to New York and purchase a two bedroom home in the heart of Manhattan, which Daphne's parents could easily afford of course.

Since their marriage, Daphne and Fred had indeed both become successful writers, not to mention the top writers in their respective fields in the United States as well. So far, Fred and Daphne had not been blessed with the pitter patter of little feet, ditto for Shaggy and Velma; although considering the gang's ages, children could come at any time, which was what the former meddling kids and their dog were all hoping for.

Speaking of dogs, Scooby Doo had found himself a girlfriend once again, in this case a beautiful female Great Dane named Debbie. Debbie had belonged to a member of Shaggy's restaurant's staff in Houston, but when the person moved away to Los Angeles to take a job at another restaurant there, she decided to let Shaggy and Velma keep Debbie for all time. Granted Shaggy and Velma were confused a bit by this at first, but when the person told them she couldn't take care of the dog anymore, they understood.

While Scooby had his girlfriend, and while Fred, Daphne, Velma and Shaggy were all smitten, one member of Mystery Inc. still hadn't found someone special. Specifically speaking, it was one Scrappy Doo, who was still living in Larson Mansion with Kelly and Mr. and Mrs. Larson; Kelly hadn't had too many pets before in her life, but with Scrappy Doo, it felt as if her spirits had been lifted.

Scrappy was a kind and brave dog, and kept a close eye on Kelly, as well as the house and her parents. Franklin and April Larson still held Halloween parties, but nothing could ever top what they cooked up for Scooby Doo and his friends; Scrappy of course loved these parties and always dressed up as something frightening, which wasn't a problem, considering the Larsons always found a costume that fit Scrappy as perfect as a glove.

While the Larsons still had their money, and had their house, with Scrappy Doo they now had something money could never buy them: a good friend, and a great companion. After marriage, and after each member of the gang moved away from Coolsville, things were relatively quiet in the small Ohio town, which included the Blake household; now that Daphne didn't visit as often as she did before, the Blakes were relatively bored, other then when they took vacations, and visited Daphne and Fred in New York, or Shaggy and Velma in Houston.

Mystery Inc. still held the occasional reunion though, mostly at Halloween. But they did get together for New Year's, Thanksgiving, Christmas and other holidays; because after all, the gang was a team, and even though all the members now lived apart from one another, they were still best friends, and that was something money could and would never ever buy.

Thus ends the case of the haunting of Larson Mansion, or if you prefer The Million Dollar Nightmare; it was a case that Scooby Doo and friends would never forget, and one that they would be able to tell their grandkids about.

And it was also one that was rather profitable, as the money the gang received from this mystery helped the members of Mystery Inc. in their lives, careers and with their families for many years to come. Which included whenever Fred, Daphne, Velma and Shaggy had kids, or whenever Scooby and Debbie had puppies as well.

Maybe someday the gang will have kids, and maybe they'll have adventure like the one in Larson Mansion. But for now, that is yet to be determined; although one thing's for sure, whoever the new generation of mystery solvers is that takes the mantle from Mystery Inc., nothing they could ever accomplish, or could ever get involved in would ever top The Million Dollar Nightmare.

Author's Notes: Phew, it's over; I really had fun writing this fan fic, and I hope you all enjoyed reading it as well. I have plenty more where this came from, so just watch my accounts and you can read more of my work. Until then, bye for now.


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